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J. Outline Sermons on the Old Testament. This 
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ANECDOTES 


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I. The Power and Comfort of God. GEN. i. 1. 
“ In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” 


WHEN Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge, was on his dying bed, 
his biographer relates that, “ after a short pause, he looked 
round with one of his bright smiles, and asked, ‘ What do 
you think especially gives me comfort at this time? The 
creation! Did Jehovah create the world ordid I? I think 
He did; now if He made the world, He can sufficiently 
take care of ME.’” 


II. Sin Ready to Enter. Gen. iv. 7. ‘Sin “eth at the 
door.” 


A YvouNnNG friend was one day calling upon an old Christian 
woman, nearly eighty years of age, just waiting for the 
summons. Said this friend, “Oh, granny, I wish I was as 
sure of heaven, and as near it, as you are!” With a look 
of unspeakable emotion, the old woman answered, “ And 
do you really think the devil cannot find his way up an 
old woman’s garret-stair? Oh, if He hadn’t said ‘None 
shall pluck them out of My hand,’ I would have been away 
wandering long ago!” 


III. Sin Crouching at the Door. Gen.iv.7. “Sin 
lieth at the door.” 


A TRAVELLER who had fallen into the hands of some 
robbers, was murdered by them. In his last moments, 
seeing some ravens flying over his head, he exclaimed to 
them, “I call upon you to avenge my death.” Three days 
after, the robbers, going into the neighbouring town, saw 
some ravens on the roof of the inn where they were carous- 
ing. One of them said, sneeringly: “I suppose those are 
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2 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


the ravens come to avenge the death of the traveller we 
despatched the other day.” The servant of the inn, over- 
hearing these words, ran and repeated them to the magis- 
trate, who had the robbers taken up, and, on inquiry being 
made, they were convicted of the murder and hanged. 


IV. Undone. Gen. iv. 10. “And He said, What hast 


thou done?” 


THE Rev. Rowland Hill preaching on one occasion from 
' this text, at Cowes, began his sermon as follows :—“In 
my way to your island, I visited the county jail at Win- 
chester, and there I saw many who were accused of heavy 
crimes, but who seemed careless and indifferent, and to 
have but little sense of their awful situation. But one 
young man attracted my attention: he kept separate from 
the rest, and scemed very much troubled. I went up to 
him and said, ‘And what have you done, young man?’ 
‘Sir,’ said he, deeply affected, ‘I have done that which I 
cannot undo, and which has undone me.’ This, my dear 
fricnds,” said the minister, “is the situation of every one 
of you. You have each of you done that which has undone 
you, and which you cannot undo.” 


V. My Ministry. Gen. v. 24. “And Enoch walked with 
God: and he was not; for God took him.” 


ON the 22nd of February, 1880, Dr. Raleigh preached for 
_the last time. His text was, “And Enoch walked with 
God: and he was not; for God took him.” Had he 
known that he would never preach again, he could not 
have chosen a more appropriate text, or have spoken with 
more impressiveness and pathos. One of the members of 
the congregation said, on returning home, “I have heard 
to-day what I never expect to hear again in this world.” 
Dr. Raleigh was compelled to rest; weeks passed away, 
but there was no amendment in his health, and at length 
he had to be told that there was no hope of his recovery. 
When he received the intelligence he said, “Then my 
ministry is ended.” There was a pause, and then he 
added, “My ministry!—it is dearer than my life.” On 
the Tuesday before his death, he was visited by the Rev. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 3 


Joshua Harrison, to whom he freely expressed his confi- 
dence in the glorious work of the Saviour, and said: “In 
any case I may well be content and thankful. I am not 
an old man, yet I have lived long and worked hard. I 
have had, on the whole, a most happy, and I think I may 
say successful, ministry. God has blessed my work, and 
has always given me true friends. If I have finished my 
work, Iam ready to go. Indeed, I should have no regrets, 
but for these dear ones” (his wife and children). When 
reminded of the prayers which were being offered on his 
behalf, he replied, “Yes, my people’s prayers make me 
sometimes think I may have a little more work to do, but 
if not, I shall calmly march up to the Gates.” Still trust- 
ing in Christ, he went “through the gates,” April, 1880. 
In the presence of a sorrowing multitude, his coffin was 
lowered into a grave in Abney Park Cemetery. 


VI. An Ideal Christian Pastor. Gen. v. 24. “And 
Enoch walked with God.” 


OBERLIN’S motto may be summed up in three words, 
“Walk before God.” We have in him the ideal of a 
Christian and of a pastor. He had holy, vigilant, tender 
love for souls. When, of an evening, some of his flock 
were passing in front of his house at Waldersbach, and saw 
a light burning at a certain window which they well knew, 
“Hush!” one said to the others, “our pastor is watching 
for us”; and so, indeed, this valiant soldier of the cross 
did watch and wrestle for his people. He prayed by name 
for each of these souls whom he presented before God, as 
of old they brought the sick to the Saviour for healing. 
In common with all generous spirits, Oberlin had hailed 
with transport the clear, fair morning of revolution ; 
but when its aspect changed—when the day darkened in 
crimes and bloodshed—when the Gospel was proscribed in 
France turned pagan, and the Age of Reason substituted 
in its place—do you suppose Oberlin was dumb, and spoke 
no more to his flock of the Gospel and of Christ? As- 
suredly no. This good shepherd, under the needful disguise 
of president of a club, contrived to retain the right of still 
feeding his sheep with the Divine word. For example, 
when the Convention despatched to all the “club presi- 


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4 OLD TES? AMENT ANECDOTES. 


dents” the common motto or text on which they were to 
speak on each decade, the subject on one occasion was 
this :—“ Against tyrants.” Oberlin was in no wise em- 
barrassed thereby—not he! “Tyrants,” said he to his 
parishioners, “all good republicans ought to hate; yes, 
and to make war on them without truce or intermission. 
But who are these tyrants? The King of Prussia or the 
Emperor? No, the real tyrants are the vices, the passions, 
the evil lusts which war against the soul. Behold in them 
our worst enemies, with whom peace there must never be.” 
And so, by a happy turn like this, the good Oberlin would 
soon find his way back to the Gospel he loved, and keep 
his people alive with the bread of life, of which there was 
a sore famine in other places. 


VII. Gathering Flowers to Compose Him in 
the Hour of Death. Gen. v. 24. “And Enoch 
walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” 


WE know it to be a Scripture fact, that men have “walked 
with God,” in closest intimacy, and that God hath held 
converse with them, “even as a man converseth with his 
friend.” Such was the case with Enoch, Abraham, Moses, 
and all that luminous cloud of witnesses so brightly and 
clearly revealed in the Bible. 

The Church of God, even down to our own time, fur- 
nishes innumerable witnesses to this truth, which we will 
establish by the mouth of two of them. 

John Holland was an old Puritan minister, who died 
two hundred and fifty years ago. Little is known of him, 
except what relates to his deathbed. Perceiving that he 
was rear his end, he said: “Come, oh come; death 
approaches. Let us gather some flowers to comfort this 
hour.” He requested that the eighth chapter of Romans 
might be read to him. But at every verse he stopped the 
reading, while he expounded it to the comfort of his soul, 
and to the joy and wonder of his friends. Having thus 
continued his meditations above two hours, he suddenly 
cried out, “Oh, stay your reading. What brightness is 
this I see? Have you lighted any candles?” They told 
him, “No; it is the sunshine.” “Sunshine?” said he; 
nay, my “Saviour’s shine! Now, farewell world—welcome, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 5 


heaven. The Day-star from on high hath visited my 
heart. Oh, speak when I am gone, and preach it at my 
funeral, God dealeth familiarly with man.’ In such trans- 
ports his soul soared toward heaven. His last words, after 
repeating the declaration that “God doth and will deal 
familiarly with man,” were these: “And now, thou fiery 
chariot, that camest down to fetch up Elijah, carry me to 
my happy home. And all ye blessed angels, who attended 
the soul of Lazarus to bring it to heaven, bear me, oh 
bear me to the bosom of my best beloved, Amen; ever so 
come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!” 

Our other present witness is Gilbert Tennent, who was 
a main instrument, with Whitefield and Edwards, of the 
great revival in New England, one hundred years ago. In 
one of his letters to his brother, the holy William Tennent, 
he says, “ Brother, shall I tell you an astonishing instance 
of the glorious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is 
this, that one of the meanest of His servants has had 
His presence every day, in some degree, for above eleven 
weeks. Nor is the great, good Master yet gone. Oh, brother, 
it is heaven upon earth to live near to God! Verily our 
comfort does not depend so much upon our outward situa- 
tion as is generally supposed. No, a Saviour’s love is all 
in all. Oh, this will make any situation sweet, and turn 
the thickest darkness into day.” 


VIII. Quenching the Spirit. Gen. vi 3. “My 
Spirit shall not always strive with man.” 


A PREACHER says “It is long since I was a collegian, 
either as a senior here, or previously as a member of the 
lower classes elsewhere. I still remember vividly three 
young men who went about swearing by the Holy Ghost, 
which they considered the unpardonable sin. They were 
already hardened and reckless. One of them, who became 
a brilliant physician, died in middle age, a suicide ; another 
of them, still earlier, a drunkard; the other yet lives, a 
physician, but with not a sign of religious thought or 
feeling. This reminiscence has led me to the subject of 
quenching not the Spirit, as one adapted to young men 
just laying the foundations of life. 

“Jn the class of 1840, of which I was a member, were 


6 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


two ministers’ sons, of fine minds, but neither of them 
Christians. During revival services near by this edifice, at 
about this season of the year, one of them was converted ; 
but the other held aloof. Under an urgent appeal from 
his friend he had, however, been touched. He did not 
quench the Spirit. He became, finally, a minister, and 
settled at New Rochelle. In the same class was a third 
member, an avowed infidel. After graduation he banded 
with others even worse than himself to go by sea to New 
Orleans, and thence overland into Texas, there to form a 
precatory band for the commission of all ‘kinds of iniquity. 
They did not all reach New Orleans. A.part went on, 
but were attacked by disease. This student buried the 
last one, and was left alone. From Galveston he worked 
his way home, sick, diseased, and ragged, to his mother’s 
door. He got a little school at New Rochelle, but was a 
gambler and misanthrope, resisting long all his classmate’s 
advances and appeals. Touched at length by them, he 
did not quench the Spirit. He began a higher, a Christian 
life ; and these three students of this college within these 
walls nearly fifty years ago, are now all ministers of Christ, 
living at the West. 


IX. Gen. vi 5. “ Every imagination of the thoughts of his 
heart was only evil continually,” 


EMMANUEL refuses even to allow a letter from Diabolus 
to enter the town of Mansoul. A preacher has well said: 
“ There must be no correspondence whatever. The devil’s 
letters are evil hints and suggestions, and if you entertain 
them, then you are opening up a correspondence with him, 
Whenever you get a letter addressed in his hand-writing, 
with the post-mark of hell on it, destroy it at once.” 
Luther said, “I cannot help unclean birds flying over my 
head, but 1 can keep them from building and breeding in 
my hair.” So we cannot help evil thoughts crossing ous 
minds, but we can keep them from dwelling there. 


X. The Shut Door. Gen. vii. 16. “And the Lord 


shut him in.” 


IN the life of the late Hugh Millar, we find the following 
passage from Mr. Stewart, of Cromarty, whom Millar con- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 7 


— —_—- 


sidered one of the very best and ablest of Scotland’s 
ministers: “Noah did not close the door. There are 
words that God keeps for Himself. The burden is too 
heavy for the back of man. To shut that door on a world 
about to perish would have been too great a responsibility 
for a son of Adam. Another moment, and another, and 
another might have been granted by Noah, and the door 
might never have been shut, and the ship that carried the 
life of the world might have been swamped. And so it is 
in the ark of salvation. It is not the Church nor the min- 
ister that shuts or opens the door, These do God’s bidding; 
they preach righteousness; they offer salvation, and it is 
God that shuts and opens the door. Oh, what a sigh and 
shudder will pass through the listening universe when God 
will shut the door of the heavenly ark upon the lost!” 


XI. A Quaint Epitaph. Gen. viii. 9. ‘ But the dove 
Sound no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him 
into the ark.” 


THE following quaint epitaph has reference to a little girl 
buried at the age of five months: “ But the dove found no 
rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into 
the ark.” 


XII. Noah’s Prayer. Gen. viii. 20. “ And Noah built 
an altar unto the Lord.” 


TRADITION has preserved the prayer of Noah, and the 
learned John Gregory gives it to us as he gathered it from 
the Arabic and Syriac. And assuredly the prayer is a 
beautiful one,-a prayer which might. not only have been 
well offered up in that floating church, but which may be 
even a pattern for many prayers. The following is John 
Gregory’s translation from the floating words of the tradi- 
tional original : “O Lord, excellent art Thou in Thy truth, 
and there is nothing great in comparison of Thee. Look 
upon us with the eye of mercy and compassion ; deliver us 
from this deluge of waters and set our feet in a large room. 
By the sorrows of Adam Thy first-made man, by the blood 
of Abel Thy holy one, by the righteousness of Seth, in 
whom Thou art well pleased, number us not among those 
who have transgressed Thy statutes, but take us unto Thy 


8 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


merciful care, for Thou art our deliverer, and Thine is the 
praise from all the works of Thy hands for evermore. And 
the sons of Noah said, Amen, Lord.” 


XIII. The Covenant Sign. Gen. ix. 13. “JZ do set 
My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant 
between Me and the earth.” 


THE native account of the last martyrdom in Madagascar 
concludes in these touching words :—“ Then they prayed, 
‘O Lord, receive our spirits, for Thy love to us hath caused 
this to come to us; and lay not this sin to their charge.’ 
Thus prayed they as long as they had any life, and then 
they died—softly, gently; and there was at the time a 
rainbow in the heavens which seemed to touch the place of the 
burning.” 
XIV. One Language. Gen. xi. 1. “ Zhe whole earth 
was of one language and of one speech.” . 


A HINDU and a New Zealander met upon the deck of 
a missionary ship. They had been converted from their 
heathenism, and were brothers in Christ; but they could 
not speak to each other. They pointed to their Bibles, 
shook hands, and smiled in each other's faces; but that 
was all. At last a happy thought occurred to the Hindu. 
With sudden joy, he exclaimed: “ Halleluia!” The New 
Zealander, in delight, cried out “Amen!” These two 
words, not found in their own heathen tongues, were to 
them the beginning of “one language and one speech.” 


XV. The Confusion of Tongues. GEN. xi 9. 
“ Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord 
did there confound the language of all the earth.” 


THE late Bishop Selwyn devoted a great part of his time 
to visiting the Melanesian Isles, and he thus writes home 
about the difficulty of languages: “Nothing but a special 
interposition of the Divine Power could have produced 
such a confusion of tongues as we find here. In islands 
not larger than the Isle of Wight, we find dialects so 
distinct that the inhabitants of the various districts hold 
no communication one with another.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. fr) 


XVI. True Service must have Soul in it. Gen. 
xii. 5. ‘“‘ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brothers 
son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the 
souls that they had gotten in Haran.” 


A MINISTER makes the following remarks in his sermon: 
—The want of this age—of all ages is—sou/. Quaint old 
Matthew Henry points out that Abraham’s slaves which 
he had gotten in Haran are called sou/s. In these times 
servants are called hands. A world of difference. Hands 
—four fingers and a thumb to get as much out of as one 
can, and to put as little into, from the master’s standpoint. 
And from the servants—to pick up as much as they can 
and to give as little back again. When master and man 
can find in each other’s relationship a soul—a living, earnest, 
brotherly soul, then only are the work and wages alike 
right. In least and commonest works we want not ands 
only but souls. If I hire a man to do my garden and I find 
him scarcely playing at the work, for men put their souls 
into their play, but ‘dawdling’ only, tickling the earth 
with a rake as if he expected it to laugh into flowers, I 
would sooner fling him his half-crown, and do the work 
right earnestly myself. So do we value soul, we who see 
but the outside of men. Think then of Him Whose eyes 
do look us through—the Father of spirits, Whose contact 
is even with the inner man, the soul. If that sleeps, how 
poor in His sight, how vain and mocking, is any service 
that we pretend to render Him. Here all is worse than 
nothing if there be not reality, heart, earnestness.” 


XVII. Magnanimity. Gen. xiii 9. “Jf thou wilt take 
the left hand, then I will go to the right ; or if thou depart to 
the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 


AN instance of the practical effectiveness of Mr. Sherman’s 
preaching is narrated thus. In one of his Monday evening 
lectures to teachers, the subject was the parting of Abraham 
and Lot: in the course of which he spoke of the mag- 
nanimity of Abraham, and, as a contrast to it, said that he 
had jst visited a family belonging to the congregation that 
was rent by discord about the ownership of an old bedstead 
It happened that amongst his hearers was a man who had 


10 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


not been in Surrey Chapel for years. He was greatly 
amused by the illustration. As he left the chapel, he called 
on an old friend, and told him that he was at the very time 
arranging the distribution of some property left by a re- 
lative, amongst which there was an old bedstead, which had 
been matter of dispute: but the effect of the address upon 
ie ae such that the bedstead difficulty was soon amicably 
settled. 


XVIII. Unconscious Surveillance. Gen. xvi. 13. 
“ And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, 
Thou God seest me.” 


SOME years since a trio of gentlemen, members of a large 
mercantile firm, came into the office of the writer, and, 
under injunctions of profound secrecy, desired the favour 
of using the window fora few days. The privilege was 
readily granted, and one of their number was at once in- 
stalled behind a curtain, where, with a powerful glass, he 
could rigidly scrutinize every movement of a certain clerk in 
a large building across the way. The young man, all un- 
conscious of the vigilant eye constantly upon him, was 
absorbed in his duties, making entries and receiving money ; 
and, whatever consciousness of innocence or guilt was 
carried about with him, the suspicion of a rigid watch upon 
his actions—every movement closely scanned and weighed 
by his employers—doubtless had never entered his mind. 
The surveillance was continued nearly a week when it was 
abruptly terminated, and the result, whether in discovery of 
wrong or establishing innocence, I never learned, 

The incident made a profound impression upon me, 
suggesting, with thrilling distinctness, the solemn truth 
which men are so prone to forget, “Thou God seest me,” 
and enabling me as never before to realize how open before 
Him are the hearts and ways of men, their desires, volitions, 
actions; and that at last He shall bring every work into 
judgment, whether it be good or whether it be evil. 


XIX. God Makes no Mistakes. GEN. xviii. 25 
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?” 


THERE is here a young man of about thirty, of fine talents 
and capabilities for active life, but for years a cripple, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. It 


paralytic, and helpless. He would starve, if left alone. A 
friend was commiserating his condition, when, with deep 
earnestness, he exclaimed, as he slowly raised his withered 
hand, “ God makes no mistakes.’ How noble the sentiment! 
“ Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” This is 
piety. Only a heart divinely taught could thus speak. 


XX. Protection from evil. Gen. xix. 26. “ But his 
wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of 
salt.” 


AN evil is never a thing to play with. When God promises 
His protection against evil, it is understood that we, on 
our part, shall keep aloof from it as much as possible; 
that we shall not, at any rate, go recklessly or carelessly 
into it. 

I can remember an event in my early life. I had come 
home from school fora holiday. My father had just bought 
a fine large dog. Of course I was rather afraid of the 
powerful animal, and as we were going out to walk, I was 
rather uneasy when I saw that my father was to take the 
dog along with us. But he bade me relinquish all fear, as 
he would keep the animal under his own command, and he 
assured me that the dog would do me no harm if I let him 
alone. I found that my father spoke the truth, and as I 
walked on cheerfully by his side I soon lost all dread. But 
seeing that the animal was peaceful, I became bold and 
forward, and began to tease him when my father’s back 
was turned. The consequence was, that soon the blood 
streamed down my hand and my cries filled the air. 
“You promised me that the dog should not hurt me,” I 
said sobbing. “Yes,” was the answer, “but you did not 
tell me that you were going to torment him. It was 
understood that you were to let Az alone.” 

I always look at this scar of mine when I think of God’s 
promises to His children with reference to their protection 
against evil. It is understood that we shall keep aloof. 
You know the sad story of Lot’s wife. God had promised 
her a safe escape from the evils of Sodom. But in her 
recklessness she chose to turn her face towards the burning 
furnace and the fiery shower. Of course, no protection 
was promised against such a foolhardiness. When God 


12 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


promises that He will carry our cares for us, it is under- 
stood that we shall not unnecessarily and neglectfully try 
to increase the burden. If so, we may expect our Father 
to allow the dog to bite us, that we may learn to behave 
wisely. 


XXI. A Motto. Gen. xxii. 14. “ Zhe Lord will provide.” 


THE celebrated Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, who rose from 
a humble station in life to the highest rank, and passed 
through strange and trying vicissitudes, used these words 
as his motto, and ordered them to be engraved on his tomb: 
“ God’s providence is my inheritance.” 


XXII. Three Bad Bargains. Gen. xxv. 34. “ Zhus 
Esau despised his birthright.” 


A Sunday school teacher remarked that he who buys the 
truth makes a good bargain, I inquired if any scholar 
recollected an instance in Scripture of a bad bargain. “I 
do,” replied a boy, “Esau sold his birthright for a mess of 
pottage.” A second said, “Judas made a bad bargain 
when he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver.” A third 
boy observed, “Our Lord tells us that he makes a bad 
bargain who to gain the whole world loses his own soul.” 


XXIII. Beautiful Doors. Gen. xxviii. 17. “ The gate 
of heaven.” 


MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTTI said of the doors of the 
Baptistery at Florence, executed by Lorenzo Ghiberti, 
when asked what he thought of them, “ They are so beauti- 
ful that they might stand at the gates of Paradise.” 


XXIV. Give all you Can. GEN. xxviii 22. “Andof 
all that Thou sha# give me, I will surely give the tenth unto 
Thee.” 


THE late Bishop Selwyn used often to quote that motto 
of John Wesley’s, “ Save all youcan and give all you save,” 
and he did not think that charity began until after a tithe 
had been paidto God. ‘“ Whatever your income,” he wrote 
ence to his son, “ remember that only nine-tenths of it are 
r: your disposal.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 13 


XXV. A TenthofAlIl. Gen. xxviii. 22. And of all that 
Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.” 


“ TAKE it quick, quick,” said a merchant, who had promised, 
like Jacob, to return to the Lord a tenth of all that he 
should give him, and found that it amounted to so large 
a sum, that he said, “I cannot give so much,” and set aside 
asmaller amount. Then his conscience smote him, and, 
coming to himself, he said, “What! can I be so mean? 
Because God has thus blessed me that I have this large 
profit, shall I now vob Him of his portion?” And fearing 
his own selfish nature, he made haste to place it beyond 
his reach in the treasury of the Lord, coming almost breath- 
less to the pastor’s house, and holding the money in his 
outstretched hand. 


XXVI. Helping on the Work of God. Gen. xviii. 
a2. “Of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the 
_ tenth unto Thee.” 


A wIibDow found pardon and peace in her Saviour in her 
sixty-ninth year. Her gratitude and love overflowed and 
often refreshed the hearts of Christians of long experience. 
The house of God became very dear to her, and she was 
often seen to drop a gift in the church door box though 
her income was only 2s. 6d. per week. A fall in her 
seventy-second year prevented her ever coming out again. 

A little boy being seen to drop something into the box, 
was asked what it was. He said, “It is Mrs. W ’s 
penny.” He was told to take it back to her, and to say 
that her good intention was prized, but that her friends 
could not let her thus reduce her small means, especially 
as she could not come out toworship. She replied, “ Boy 
why did you let them see you give it? Take it again and 
put it in when no one sees you.” Then weeping she said, 
“ Wkat ! and am I not to be allowed to help in the work of 
God any more because I can’t get out?” 


XXVIII. A Christian Boyhood. Gen. xxxix.2. “And 
the Lord was with Joseph.” 


Dr. HAROLD SCHOFIELD, the talented missionary to China, 
lived a life of singular beauty, purity, and devotion. He 


14 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


had that best of all earthly blessings—a good and godly 
mother. The gracious training of his childish days bore 
fruit early. “When nine years old he was truly converted 
to God.” The circumstances of his conversion are singularly 
beautiful, and should encourage Christian parents not only 
to pray for, but to expect from, their children an early 
decision for Christ. An elder brother, who was away at 
school, had just found the Saviour, and had written to tell 
his brother of hisnew-found joy. After reading the letter, 
Harold was deeply affected, and a servant noticing his 
agitation went to his mother to tell her that “ Harold was 
walking up and down the dining-room in great distress of 
mind.” “TJ sent for him,” his mother says, “ and he handed 
me a letter from his brother, and stood by me in tears to 
think that he was not saved like him. I spoke simply of 
the sacrifice of Christ, and I shall never forget the ray of 
joy that beamed through his tearful eyes and lighted up 
his whole face as he owned that Christ had saved him too.” 
Who can wonder that the spiritual life which had so 
gracious a beginning, had so fair a continuance and so 
glorious a close! Happy the child who at nine years of 
age is led to Jesus by a brother’s letter and a mother’s 
voice ! 

The gladness of that day, the settled conviction that he 
was Christ’s and Christ his, seems never to have been lost, 
hardly dimmed in after years. 

At school he soon won the highest place, and began his 
brilliant series of prize winnings. Here, too, he took his 
stand as a thorough-going Christian. “ His piety was as 
well-known to all the boys as his diligence ;” and in after 
years old schoolfellows testified to the blessing received 
through his earnest religious talk in the play-ground. He 
was, however, always ready for out-door exercises and 
holiday excursions, cycling and boating expeditions in 
which a touch of danger only added to the interest of the 
enterprise. 

At the University, and at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, 
he never hesitated to declare himself Christ’s servant ; and 
it was soon recognised by the other students that Scho- 
field's presence must put an end to everything wrong in 
word or act, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 15 


XXVIII.. Praying First. Gen. xli.g. ‘“Z7emember my 
faults this day.” 


Two Christian men “ fell out.” One heard that the other 
was talking against him, and he went to him and said, 
“Will you be kind enough to tell me my faults to my 
face, that I may profit by your Christian candour and try 
to get rid of them?” “ Yes, sir,” replied the other ; “I will 
do it.” They went aside, and the former said: “ Before 
you commence telling what you think wrong in me, will 
you please bow down with me and let us pray over it, that 
my eyes may be opened to see my faults as you will tell 
them? You lead in the prayer.” It was done, and when 
the prayer was over the man who had sought the interview 
said, “ Now proceed with what you have to complain of in 
me.” But the other replied, “ After praying over it, it looks 
so little that it is not worth talking about. The truth is, I 
feel now that in going around talking against you I have 
been serving the devil myself, and have need that you pray 
_ for me and forgive me the wrong I have done you.” 

Here and there in almost every community is a man or 
woman who might profit by this incident. 


XXIX. Troubles. Gen. xli. 52. “ Zhe land of my affiic- 
tion.” 


“WHEN in Amsterdam, Holland, last summer,” says a 
traveller, “I was much interested in a visit we made toa 
place then famous for polishing diamonds. We saw the 
men engaged in the work. When a diamond is found it is 
rough and dark like a common pebble. It takes a long 
time to polish it, and it is very hard work. It is held by 
means of a piece of metal close to the surface of a large 
wheel which is kept going round. Fine diamond dust is 
put on this wheel, nothing else being hard enough to polish 
the diamond. And this work is kept on for months and 
sometimes for several years before it is finished. And if a 
diamond is intended for a king then the greater trouble 
and time are spent upon it.” 

Jesus calls His people His jewels. To fit them for 
beautifying His crown, they must be polished like dia- 
monds, and He makes use of the troubles He sends te 
polish His jewels. 


16 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


XXX. A Son’s Affection. Gen. xlv. 3. “ And Joseph 
said unto his brethren, lam Joseph ; doth my father yet live?” 


THE Huguenots were persecuted beyond measure in 
southern France, and were not allowed to meet together 
for worship. 

On New Year’s Day, 1756, the Church at Nimes held 
a service in the gorge in the desert. The people had 
scarcely assembled when they were surprised by the 
soldiers. They flew up the rocks like a scattered flock of 
goats. Among the more agile was a young man named 
Jules Fabre. Suddenly he remembered his father, a feeble 
old man of seventy. He was sure that he could not have 
escaped. Returning, he found his fears realized ; his father 
and another man had been captured. He ran up to the 
soldiers and insisted on their accepting him in place of his 
father. The old man besought him to go. Thealtercation 
had gone on some time, when the young man seized his 
aged parent round the waist and carried him to a stone, 
where he gently laid him down, more dead than alive. 
Jules Fabre then gave himself up as a prisoner, was con- 
victed of being present at an illegal assembly, and sent to 
the galleys, where he might have remained for life, had 
not the peculiarity of the case touched the hearts of some 
powerful people, and he was released at the end of six 
years. 


XXXI. The Homesick Mount. Gen. xlvii.9. “ Zhe 
days of the years of my pilgrimage.” 


WE are told that in the neighbourhood of Interlaken there 
is a prominent point, though not of great height, called the 
“ Heimweh Fluh,’ which means the Homesick Mount. It 
is so called because it is generally the last spot which the 
traveller visits before leaving that part of Switzerland, and 
at a time when his thoughts are turned homeward. It 
commands a view of the whole valley of Interlaken, with 
its cultivated fields and pastures and picturesque villages 
and lakes in the cup of mountain walls, and beyond the 
Jungfrau and other mountains, which never doff their caps 
of eternal snow. It is beautiful to look upon, but tlie 
heart of the tourist is not there. He is thinking of friends 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 17 


and loved ones, and his own country. It is the Homesick 
Mount. And so they to whom faith makes the invisible 
most real may have their moments of uplifting, standing 
on some “ Heimweh Fluh,’ some Mount of Homesickness, 
and, while they acknowledge all the beauty, all the glory, 
all the gladness of the world, their hearts are not here; 
this sight does not enthral them, for their faces are turned 
toward home. They dwell in the Land of Promise as in 
a strange country. 


XXXII. Eternity, and Where it is to be 
Spent. Gen. xlvii. 29. “And the time drew nigh that 
Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph.” 


A MINISTER was dying, and he called his son, who was a 
thoughtless lad, to his bedside. “Tom,” he said, “will you 
promise me one thing before I die? I only ask that, when 
I am gone, you will go every evening alone for fifteen 
minutes and say, ‘What is eternity ? and where shall I 
spend it?” The promise was given, and faithfully kept. 
At first the lad thought little of the words; but he went 
on doing as he had promised, until at last he was not able 
to face the awful question any longer, and gave himself up 
to Jesus. 


XXXIII. The Great Pilot is on Board. Gen, 
xlviil. 21. “ And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but 
God shall be with you.” 


JouHN OWEN, two days before he died, thus wrote in a 
letter to a friend : “I am leaving the ship of the Church in 
a storm; but whilst the great Pilot is in it, the loss of a 
poor under-rower will be inconsiderable.” 


XXXIV. The Persecution of the Huguenots. 
Exop. ii. 23. “‘ Zhe children of Israe sighed by reason of the 
bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by 
reason of the bondage.” 


MANY otherwise estimable people approved the Huguenot 

persecution at the time. Thus Madame de Sévigné, one 

of the most amiable women of the seventeenth century, 

a most tender mother, an example of virtue, and noted for 
(0: 


18 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


extraordinary good sense, absolutely approved Louis XIV.’s 
attempt to exterminate Protestantism. In a letter to the 
Comte de Bussy she writes: “ You have doubtless seen the 
edict by which the king revokes that of Nantes. Nothing 
can be more admirable than its contents, and no king has 
done, or ever will do, a more honourable act.” To which 
the count replies: “I admire the conduct of the king in 
destroying the Huguenots; the wars which have been 
waged against them before, and the St. Bartholomews, 
have multiplied and given vigour to this sect. His majesty 
has gradually undermined it, and the edict which he has 
just published, supported by dragoons and Bourdaloue, has 
been its coup de grace” (1685). 

To the elegent, refined gentlefolk of the court of Louis 
XIV., these Huguenots, who dared to claim the right to 
worship God according to their consciences, were human 
vermin, to be exterminated by fire and sword. Madame 
de Sévigné commiserates her nephew, the Marquis de 
Trousse, who was engaged in the “dreadfully fatiguing” 
work of shooting down “ miserable Huguenots.” He beat 
the country with armed bands, just as modern sportsmen 
beat the woods for game; wherever a group of Protestants 
were found praying or singing hymns, the soldiers fired on 
them or cut them down. 


XXXV. Egyptian Animal Worship. Exop. viii. 26. 
“And Moses said, It is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice 
the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: to, 
shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their 
eyes, and will they not stone us?” 


TIE veneration with which the Egyptians regarded such 
animals as were the objects of their religious worship might 
be illustrated by a variety of historical facts. On one 
occasion a Persian commander saved his army by placing 
cra(tily, in the foremost lines of his troops, some dogs, cats, 
and other sacred animals, at which the foiled Egyptians 
did not dare to aim an offensive weapon. A Roman in 
Egypt once killed a cat inadvertently, upon which the 
people met together, beset his house, and killed the man, 
in spite of the king and princes, who endeavoured to 
prevent it. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 19 


XXXVI. The Passover. Exon. xii, 13, “And the 
blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are.” 


EPIPHANIUS tells us that the Egyptians used, at this time 
of the year, to mark their cattle, trees, and one another 
with red ochre, which they fancied to be a preservative 
from death ; it probably took its rise from hence. 


XXXVII. A Remedy against Despondence. 
Exon. xiv. 15. ‘“* Speak unto the children of Israel, that they 
go forward.” 


“LET me mention,” says Sir.W. R. Hamilton in one of his 
letters, “what I think an important secret of experience ; 
namely, that blessed a thing as meditation is, it is aczzon, 
rather than meditation, which is the appointed remedy, the 
Divine specific, against despondence; and that present 
duties which may at first seem irksome, are part of the 
medicine wherewith God healeth the sickness of those that 
are broken in heart.” 


XXXVIII. Not siavishly Afraid of his Sins. 
Exop. xx. 2. “lam the Lord thy God.” 


WHEN Ebenezer Erskine lay on his death-bed, one of his 
elders said to him, “Sir, you have given us many good 
advices, may I ask what you are now doing with your own 
soul?” “Tam just doing with it,” he replied, “ what I did 
forty years ago; I am resting on that word, ‘I am the 
Lord thy God.’” Another friend put the question, “Sir, 
are you not afraid of your sins?” “Indeed, no,” was his 
answer; “ever since I knew Christ I have never thought 
highly of my frames and duties, nor am I séavishly afraid 
of my sins.” At another time he said, “I know that when 
my soul forsakes this tabernacle of clay it will fly as 
naturally to my Saviour’s bosom as the bird to its beloved 
nest.” 


XXXIX. The Heathen’s Reply to the Jesuit. 
Exon. xx. 4. “ Zhou shalt not make unto thee any graven 
image.” 

WHEN the Jesuit missionaries first arrived in the Sandwich 

Islands, they used many arguments with the natives to 


20 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


show that their instructions and those of the Protestant 
missionaries were alike. It was on one of these occasions 
that an old man, who made no pretensions to religion, 
replied that the missionaries had taught him about God. 
“Oh, yes,” replied the priests, “Mr. Thurston taught about 
God, and that was right ; you heard him, and now I wish 
you to hear me.” The old man gravely answered, “ But 
the Bible says I cannot serve two masters.” He further 
objected to their images, when the priests said: “Oh! we do 
not call this God, and we do not pray to it. It is only 
a representation, shadow, of God.” The old man replied: 
“Let me see it. That cannot be any representation of 
God. It is made of brass. Lf there be any shadow or repre- 
sentation of God, it must be in the heart, not in an image.” 


XL. Look to Your Pockets. Exon’ Thou 
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” 


HOWARD the philanthropist was standing in a crowd by 
the door of a post office, when a man uttered a volley of 
oaths. “Look to your pockets!” cried Howard, buttoning 
up his. own tightly. “Always take care of your pockets 
when you find yourself amongst swearers. He who will 
take God’s name in vain will think little of taking your 
purse, or doing anything else that is evil.” 


XLI. Swearing. Exon. xx. 7. “ Zhou shalt not take the 
name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold 
him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.” 


IT is interesting to know that when St. Paul’s Cathedral was 
in building, Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, caused 
a printed notice to be affixed to the scaffolding, threaten- 
ing with instant dismissal any workman guilty of swearing 
within those sacred precincts, 


XLII. Who Taught you toSwear? Exop. xx. 7. 
“ Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” 
AN aged minister was once riding on the box-seat of 


a coach ; the driver, a fine-looking young man, frequently 
swore at his horses. For some time the minister was 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 23 


silent ; at length he asked in a kind voice: “ Will you tell 
me, my friend, who taught you to swear? Was it your 
mother ?” 

A tender point was touched. “My mother? No, sir. 
Why, my mother is a praying woman! It would break 
her heart if she heard me swearing,” he replied. 

In loving words the aged Christian pleaded with the 
driver to honour, not only his mother’s teachings, but also 
the commands of his mother’s God. 

“T thank you, sir,” said the young lad, and during the 
remainder of the journey not another oath was heard. 


XLIII. The Profanation of the Sabbath. Exon. 
xx. 8. “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep tt holy.” 


BLACKSTONE declares somewhere that “a corruption of 
morals usually follows a profanation of the Sabbath” ; and 
La Place said just before his death, “I have lived long 
enough to know what at one time I did not believe, that 
no society can be upheld without the sentiment of religion.” 
Tke testimonies of other such men might be quoted in 
great numbers that, alike on moral, social, economical, and 
physical grounds, the disregard of the Lord’s day is a 
dangerous evil both to the individual and the community. 


XLIV. The Noblest Work of God. Exop. x. 12 
“ Honour thy father and thy mother.” 


A LITTLE boy hearing a party of gentlemen applauding 
the sentiment “an honest man is the noblest work of 
God,” boldly said, “ No”; and being asked, “ What do you 
think is the noblest work of God?” said, “My mother.” 
That boy made a good man. Who can doubt it? 


XLV. An Emaciated Body. Exon. xx. 13. “ Thou 
shalt not kill.” 


IT is told of St. Francis of Assisi that, an hour or two 
before his death, gazing down on his poor, emaciated body, 
he exclaimed regretfully, “I fear I have ill-treated my 
brother, the ass!” 


22 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


XLVI. Cursing. Exop. xxi 17. “Ae that curseth his 
Sather, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.” 


“ CURSES, like chickens, always come home to roost.” Such 
is the proverb, and it is a very true saying. The evil 
wishes and threats which are spoken against another return 
on the swearer’s own head. When an Arab is kicked by his 
camel, or when the beast refuses to go on, he solemnly 
curses the camel, at the same time throwing a handful of 
sand into the air, and most of that sand comes back into 
the Arab’s eyes. So it is with curses, 


XLVII. A Gift which Blindeththe Wise. Exop. 
xxill. 8. “ And thou shalt take no gift: for the gift blindeth 
the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.” 


IT is recorded of Sir Matthew Hale that upon his circuit as 
a judge he refused to try the cause of a gentleman who 
had sent him the customary present of venison, until he 
had paid for it ; for he well understood the spirit of the 
excellent law in Exodus xxiii. 8. 


XLVIII. The Plan of Strasburg Cathedral. 
Exon. xxv. 9. “ According to all that I show thee, after the 
pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments 
thereof, even so shall ye make it.” 


THERE is a beautiful story told of the plan by which 
Strasburg Cathedral was made. The architect, Erwin von 
Steinbach, who was given the commission to build it, was 
greatly troubled lest he should not get his plan sufficiently 
noble. He had a daughter named Sabine, who was skilful 
in drawing, and one night after they had wept together 
over the plans, she said to her father, “ Don’t despair, God 
will help us.” After she fell asleep she dreamed that a 
beautiful angel came, and, when she had told her story, said, 
“You shall make the plan for the minster.” The angel 
and Sabine then set to work, and soon the plan was done. 
When she awoke she uttered a loud scream, for there was 
a paper before her covered with wonderful drawing. Her 
father exclaimed: “Child, it was no dream. The angel 
really visited you, bringing the inspiration from heaven tc 
help us.” He built the cathedral after the plan, and it was 
so beautiful that the people really believed the story, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 23 


XLIX. Burning with Pure Oil. Exon. xxvii. 20. 
“And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they 
bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp 
to burn always.” 


IT is related in the biography of one who lived to become 
a devoted Christian man, that while he was yet a little boy, 
the passage read from the Bible in the family on a certain 
occasion was Exodus xxvii. 20, describing the oil used in 
the vessels of the tabernacle. The meaning and appli- 
cation of the verse was explained by other passages from 
the New Testament. This boy was then but five years old, 
and it was not supposed that he could understand or feel 
the slightest interest in a subject considered far beyond his 
age. The older children left the room after family worship, 
but the little boy was detained, as usual, to be taught some 
simple verses of the Bible by his mother, and to pray with 
her. He kneeled down at length to pray, and in the 
midst of his prayer, he paused, and exclaimed earnestly, 
“OQ my God, make me to burn this day with pure oil!” 

The morning lesson had not been lost upon him; he 
had understood its import. “ Most evidently,” says his 
biographer, “was this prayer heard and answered through- 
out the day of his life.” 

How appropriate is this petition for the morning offering 
of every Christian, “Make me to burn this day with pure 
oil”! If He who hath all hearts in His keeping vouch- 
safe a gracious answer to that prayer, the example of the 
disciple must be one that will glorify the name of Jesus. 
Such a man will walk with God. No unhallowed fires 
will be lighted in his bosom. Neither revenge nor hate 
can burn there. The peace and joy of the believer will 

fill his soul. 


L. Talent without Sanctity. Exop. xxix. 44. “J 
will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to 
Me in the priest's office.” 

WILLIAM GRIMSHAW, of Haworth, administered a severe 

reproof to a lady with whom one day he was conversing. 

She had expressed her admiration of a certain minister 

who was more gifted in talent than in grace. “ Madam,” 


24 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


said Grimshaw, “I am glad you never saw the devil.” 
When asked why he made this remark, he said : “ Because 
he has greater talents than all the ministers in the world. 
I am fearful if you were to see him you would fall in love 
with him, as you seem to have so high a regard for talent 
without sanctity. Pray do not be led away with the sound 
of talents. Let the ministry under which Providence has 
called you never be deserted under the influence of novelty. 
There dwell, and pray that it may prove to you increasingly 
edifying, consolatory, and instructive.” 


LI. Sabbath Desecration. Exon. xxxi 13, “ Farig 
My sabbaths ye shall keep.” 


Mr. GRIMSHAW’S ministry at Haworth was one of ceaseless 
energy, labour, and prayer. 

On entering upon the charge there, he found little 
attention paid to the observance of the Lord’s day. The 
church was situated at the extremity of the parish, and it 
was thought the people from the remoter districts would 
not come so great a distance to worship, unless they had 
the further inducement of being able to purchase such 
stores for their families as were not to be procured nearer 
their own dwellings. Sabbath had become a busy market- 
ing day. Tocheck this desecration, he adopted the most 
vigorous means. It was the custom in that locality for the 
churchwardens to leave their pew in the course of the 
morning service, and visit the public-houses, and the usual 
places of resort for the village idlers, to ascertain whether 
idlers might be there lurking. Not content with requiring 
these officers to do their duty, the incumbent was accus- 
tomed to leave the church himself when the psalm before 
the sermon was sung, and if any was found wandering 
in the streets, or lounging in the churchyard, he was 
driven before him into the house of God. It has been 
said that in this service the horse-whip was used, and that 
on some occasions he told the clerk to give out the 119th 
psalm, that he might have the longer time in which to 
prosecute his search. But this is probably a myth or 
exaggeration. John Newton relates, that as a friend of 
his was passing a public-house in Haworth on the Lord’s 
day, his attention was attracted towards a number of 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 25 


‘persons who were making their escape from it, some by 
jumping out of the lower windows, and others by climbing 
over a wall, At first he supposed from the hurry of their 
flight that the house must be on fire ; but on inquiring the 
reason of the sudden rush, he found that it all arose from 
their having discovered the near approach of the parson. 
At another time, a man was passing the village on his way 
to call the doctor, when his horse lost a shoe. On apply- 
ing to the blacksmith to have his loss repaired, the reply 
was, that unless the minister granted leave it could not be 
done. Grimshaw, learning that the case required haste, 
‘ consented that the horse should be shod, 


LII. Moses’ Argument. Exon. xxxii..12. “ Where- 
fore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did He 
bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume 
them from the face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, 
and repent of this evil against Thy people.” 


THE pious Mr. Flavel, on the occasion of his escape to 
London from the persecution which was raging against the 
Nonconformists during his settlement at Dartmouth, is 
said to have made use of a similar argument to this of 
Moses. Being overtaken on his voyage by a violent 
storm, in which he and his companions all expected to be 
drowned, Mr. Flavel called the ship’s company together in 
the cabin to invoke God’s mercy and deliverance. Among 
other arguments he made use of this, that if he and his 
company perished in that storm the name of God would 
be blasphemed ; the enemies of religion would say, that, 
though he escaped their hands on shore, yet Divine 
vengeance had overtaken him at sea. No sooner was his 
prayer ended than a person came from the deck crying : 
“Deliverance! God is the hearerof prayer! Ina moment | 
the wind is come fair west.” And so sailing before it, they 
were brought safely to London. 


LIII. Truthfulness. Exon. xxxii. 24. “So they gave tt 
me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.” 


HENRY VENN ELLIOT, the pious Brighton minister, 
writes thus in late life: “If there is one point more than 
another in morality concerning which I have heen especially 


26 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


watchful in my own words, and earnest in teaching my 
children, it has been strict truth, even to the banishment 
of ordinary exaggerations.” If a child had made some 
trifling mistake, and said, “I am so very sorry,” “Keep 
your sorrow, my child,” he would say, “for a greater 
occasion.” He used to refer to Adam’s self-justification, 
“The woman gave unto me”; to Aaron’s, ‘There came 
out this calf”; to Saul’s, “ The people took of the spoil ”; 
as compared with David’s earnest, ingenuous “I have 
sinned against the Lord.” 


LIV. Christ our Rest-Stone. Exop. xxxiii. 14 
“ And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and 1 will give 
thee rest.” 


IN India, where burdens are carried on men’s heads and 
backs, it is customary to provide resting-places for them 
along the road. Stones are set up along the hot, dusty 
roads, just the right height for a man to rest his burden 
upon until he is refreshed and able to go on his way. 

“Ah, sahib,” said a native Christian to an English 
gentleman, “Christ is my rest-stone, Christ is all my 
hope.” 


LV. Leprosy. LEv. xiv. 1, 2. “ And the Lord spake unto 
Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper.” 


THE crusaders were the means of introducing the leprosy 
of the East into all the countries bordering the Mediter- 
ranean Sea, and a feeling of pity, and even of reverence, 
for these sufferers was widely diffused through Europe at 
that time. The churchmen of the times encouraged this 
feeling, and taught that Christ Himself had regarded the 
lepers with special tenderness, and quoted from the fifty- 
third of Isaiah a prophecy, in which, as they maintained, 
the Messiah was foretold under the image of a leper. 
Francis of Assisi had faith to see and charity to love even 
in the leprous the imperishable traces of the Divine image. 
He became an inmate of the lepers’ hospital at Assisi, and 
with his own hands washed and dressed the poor sufferers, 
and once kissed a leper, who, we are told, instantly became 
whole. Even they who reject the miracle will revere the 
lovingkiudness, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 297 


LVI. Transferring of Sins. Lev. xvi. 21. “And 
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, 
and confess over him all the inigutties of the children of Israel, 
and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon 
the head of the goat.” 


CHARLES SIMEON, of Cambridge, thus speaks of his attain- 
ing peace in believing: 

“In passion week,” he tells, “as I was reading ‘ Bishop 
Wilson on the Lord’s Supper,’ I met with an expressicn to 
this effect, Zhat the Jews knew what they did when they 
transferred their sin to the head of their offering. The 
thought rushed into my mind, What! may I transfer all my 
guilt to another? Has God provided an Offering for me, 
that I may lay my sins on his Head? Then, God willing, 
I will not bear them on my own soul one moment longer. 
Accordingly I sought to lay my sins upon the sacred head 
of Jesus, and on the Wednesday began to have a hope 
of mercy; on the Thursday that hope increased ; on the 
Friday and Saturday it became more strong; and on 
Easter Sunday (April 4) I awoke early with these words 
upon my heart and lips, ‘Jesus Christ is risen to-day! 
Alleluia! Alleluia!’ From that hour peace flowed in rich 
abundance into my soul.” 


LVII. Some Rules for the Christian Life. Lev. 
xvill. 4, 5. “ Ye shall do My judgments, and keep My ordt- 
nances, to walk therein: Iam the Lord your God. Ye shall 
therefore keep My statutes, and My judgments: which if a man 
do, he shall live tn them: I am the Lord.” 


JOSEPH ALLEINE tells in a letter to a clergyman what 
were the rules he imposed upon himself in the Christian 
life and ministry. 

“Never to lie down, but in the name of God: not barely 
for natural refreshment, but that a wearied servant of 
Christ may be recruited and fitted to serve Him better 
next day. 

“Never torise up but with this resolution, Well, I will go 
forth this day in the name of God, and will make religion 
my business, and spend the day for eternity. 


28 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


“Never to enter upon my calling but first thinking, I 
will do these things as unto God. 

“Never to sit down to the table, but resolving, I will not 
eat merely to please my appetite, but to strengthen myself 
for my Master’s work. 

“Never to make a visit but upon some holy design, 
resolving to leave something of God where I go, and in 
every company to leave some good savour behind. 

“This is what I have been for some time learning, and 
am pressing hard after: and if I strive not to walk by these 
rules, let this paper witness against me.” 


LVIII. Honesty of the Huguenots. Lev. xix. 36. 
“ Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall 
ye have: Lam the Lord your God, which brought you out of 
the land of Egypt.” 


THE name “ Huguenot” has received several explanations, 
but the most plausible one is suggested by Dr. Baird, 
that it was derived from a popular hobgoblin, known as 
“Huguet” or “Le Roy Huguon,” to which the super- 
stitious folk likened the Protestants whom they saw flitting 
under cover of the darkness to their secret conventicles. 
The testimony to the character of these people, as distin- 
guished from some of their military and political leaders, 
is very explicit and honourable. “The Huguenot never 
swears,” was a common saying. Their honesty was also a 
proverb. The manufacturers called them “a silly sort of 
people,” because the silk which they brought did not have 
to be re-weighed. They were people of great industry and 
thrift. Hon. John Jay, who has made a life-long study of 
the history of the Huguenots in America, says that he 
* never heard of one of them who asked or received alms” ; 
nor has he reason to think that, notwithstanding their 
privations, “any of them came to this country in a destitute 
condition.” Gov. Lovelace wrote to the king of England: 
“TI find some of these people have the breeding of courts, 
and I cannot conceive how such is acquired.” The devout 
and practical quality of their religion is exemplified by such 
instances as that which attended the arrival of the party 
which settled at New Paltz, on the Hudson River. They 
had no sooner hitched their horses than they gathered in 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 29 


a group, when Psalm xlvi. was read, and they kneeled 
together in a prayer of thankfulness and dedication to the 
Lord, who had led them in the wilderness. 

A ’single case may be cited as an illustration of the 
whole. Amadée was a youth of eighteen, living in the 
province of Perigord. His mother, a widow, had twenty- 
two soldiers quartered upon her during the dragonnades. 
For the sake of her children she signed a recantation. But 
because she added “compelled by fear,” they were carried 
off to convents, except Amadée, who escaped, but was 
arrested on the frontier with a young comrade. Every 
effort was made to intimidate or seduce this young Chris- 
tian and Faithful into abjuring their belief. A rich and 
beautiful wife was promised to Amadée if he would become 
a Papist. An attractive and attracted young Catholic girl 
even visited him in his cell, and offered herself to him with 
tears of pity and tenderness. Standing firm even against 
this allurement, he was condemned to the galleys. 

The labour of the galley-slave is thus described in the 
memoir which was published of him: “Six men are 
chained to each bench wholly naked, sitting with one foot 
on a block of timber, the other resting on the bench before 
them, holding in their hands an enormous oar fifty feet 
long. Imagine them lengthening their bodies, their arms 
stretched out to push the oar over the backs of those 
before them ; they then plunged the oar into the sea, and 
fall back into the hollow below, to repeat again and again 
the same muscular exertion. The fatigue and misery of 
their labour seems to be without a parallel. They often 
faint, and are brought to life by the lash ; sometimes they 
are thrown into the sea, and another takes the place.” 

By reason of his intelligence and integrity this young 
man was offered the position of keeper of the supplies, 
which exempted him from labour at the oar. But he relin- 
quished it in favour of another Huguenot, an ald and feeble 
man, and returned to his torture and his vile companions. 
In an engagement with an English frigate he was the only 
gurvivor of eighteen who occupied three benches, and was 
himself severely mutilated. 

The story of the woes of this noble young confesso1 as 
he and his conipanions were transferred from the galleys 
of Dunkirk to those of Marseilles; marched across the 


x OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


country on foot for three hundred miles with shackles 
about their necks ; confined in a horrible prison in Paris, 
so chained in ranks that they could neither stand nor lie 
down; in winter chained upon the wharves with neither 
fire nor blankets; obliged to exhibit themselves in all sorts 
of ridiculous attitudes and degrading antics for the amuse- 
ment of visitors—all this is too painful to be recapitulated. 
More fortunate than most of his brethren, Amadée, with 
a few others, was released by the intercession of Queen 
Anne of England, on condition of quitting France. They 
repaired to Geneva, where they were received with joy and 
tenderness. 


LIX. The Duty of Charity. Lev. xxv. 35. “And if 
thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay, with thee ; 
then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he bea stranger, or 
@ sojourner ; that he may live with thee.” 


THERE are eight degrees or steps, says Maimonides, in the 
duty of charity: 

The first and lowest degree is to give, but with reluc- 
tance or regret—the gift of the hand, but not of the heart. 

The second is to give cheerfully, but not proportionably 
to the distress of the sufferer. 

The third is te give cheerfully and proportionably, but 
not until we are solicited. 

The fourth is to give cheerfully, proportionably, and 
even unsolicited ; but to put it in the poor man’s hand, 
thereby exciting in him the painful emotion of shame. 

The fifth is to give charity in such a way that the dis- 
tressed may receive the bounty and know the benefactor, 
without their being known to him. Such was the conduct 
of some of our ancestors, who used to tie up money in the 
hind-corners of their cloaks, so that the poor might take it 
unperceived. 

The sixth, which rises still higher, is to know the objects 
of our bounty, but remain unknown to them. Such was 
the conduct of those who used to convey their charitable 
gifts into poor people’s homes, taking care that their own 
names should remain unknown. 

The seventh is still more meritorious ; namely, to bestow 
charity in such a way that the benefactor may not know 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 31 


the relieved objects, nor they the name of their benefactor: 
as was done by our charitable forefathers during the exis. 
tence of the temple; for there was in the holy building 
a place, called the Chamber of Silence or Unostentation, 
wherein the good deposited secretly whatever their generous 
hearts suggested, and from which the most respectable poor 
families were maintained with equal secrecy. 

Lastly, the eighth, and most meritorious of all, is to 
anticipate charity by preventing poverty, to assist the 
reduced brother before he be forced to hold out his hand 
for charity. This is the highest step, and the summit 
of charity’s golden ladder. 


LX. Reverencing the Sanctuary. Lev. xxvi. 2. 
“Ye shall keep My sabbaths, and reverence My sanctuary: J 
am the Lord.” 


WHEN Colonel Turner, a gallant cavalier, was hanged for 
burglary, he told the crowd gathered round the gallows 
that his mind received great consolation from the thought 
that he had always taken his hat off when he went into 
a church. 


LXI. Trivial Hindrances keeping back from 
Public Worship. Lev. xxvi. 2. “ Ye shall keep My 
sabbaths, and reverence Aly sanctuary: Iam the Lord,” 


OF good Archbishop Leighton it ‘is said, that the Sabbath 
was his delight; no slight hindrance could detain him 
from the house of prayer. Upon one occasion, when he 
was indisposed, the day being stormy, his friends urged 
him, on account of his health, not to venture to church. 

“Were the weather fair,” was the reply, “I would stay 
at home; but since it is otherwise I must go, lest I be 
thought to countenance by my example the irreligious 
practice of allowing trivial hindrances to keep me back 
from public worship.” 


EXT, A Boy Martyr. Num. vi. 25, 26. “ Zhe Lord 
make fis face shine upon thee, . . . and give thee peace.” 


WILLIAM BROWN was a poor boy martyr in the reign of 
Queen Mary. He was burnt at Brentwood. “ Pray for 


32 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


me,” he said to the bystanders. One of them replied, “I 
will pray no more for thee than I will pray for a dog.” 
“Then,” said William, “Son of God, shine Thou upon 
me!” And lo! at once on a dark, cloudy day, the sun- 
shine burst forth upon him, and kindled a glory upon 
his youthful face; “whereat the people mused, because it 
was so dark a little time before.” Happy are they on 
whom the Son of God shall thus smile. 


LXIII How John Williams was Converted. 
Num. x. 29. “ Come thou with us, and we will do thee good.” 


JOHN WILLIAMS, the well-known missionary to the South 
Sea Islands, when loitering about on a Sabbath evening 
in early life, was persuaded to go and hear a sermon; by 
the grace of God, by that sermon he was converted, 
and became one of the greatest missionaries of modern 
times. 


LXIV. Building up in their most holy Faith. 
Num xii. 3. “ Wow the man Moses was very meck.” 


Mr. MOSTYN, one of Wales’ early ministers, was remark- 
ably humble. When he was assistant to another minister, 
some good people in his hearing ascribing their conversion, 
under God, to that minister’s preaching, he seemed de- 
jected, as if he were of no use. A sensible countryman 
present, who had a particular value for his ministry, made 
this observation for his encouragement: “An ordinary 
workman may hew down timber, but it must be an ac- 
complished artist that shall frame it for the building.” Mr. 
Mostyn cheerfully replied, “ If I am of any use, I am satis. 
fied.” His preaching was eminently useful to Christians. 


LXV. Aaron’s Rod. Num. xvii. 8 “Behold the rod 
of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded.” 


Mr. RUSKIN takes up the legend of St. Christopher, and 
writes thus: 

“TI do not know,” he says, “how far the tale of St. 
Christopher is proposed by the Catholic Church for belief 
as history, or with interpretation as myth. I could myself 
much more easily explain it as the gradually enriched and 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 33 


sunset-gilded tradition of a dream and vision seen by a 
hermit-ferryman, than I can interpret its incidents as sym- 
bolizing any course of facts of spiritual life. Reading it 
as a myth, Iam myself utterly uncertain of the meaning 
of the king, the hermit, the river, or the oppression felt by 
the saint in bearing Him whose yoke is easy and whose 
burden is light. But I will hope for the reader’s pleasure .~ 
in being reminded of Tintoret’s figure of St. Christopher 
in paradise (in the Ducal Palace at Venice), bearing the 
globe of the world, which is surmounted by a cross, and 
by whose surface a beam of light descending from the 
enthroned Christ is reflected in a dazzling star. By which 
I have always understood Tintoret to mean what Holman 
Hunt means by his “Light of the World,” but with the 
further lesson that the visitation which was to sanctify 
our world for us with eternal day would come first through 
the deepest night, and in the heaviest toil of the occu- 
pation which was our earthly duty. I think also that 
Tintoret may have intended to make us feel how greatly 
the story of St. Christopher had been itself a light to all 
the Christian, and might be to all the future, world. But 
none of these lessons by great imaginative interpreters, 
however probable, guides us to any clear reading of the 
legend for all men, in the continuous action of it; nor, if 
any such could be given, would the application be other 
than forced and untrustworthy. At first thought most 
of us would suppose the river meant human life; but 
that river we do not cross, but descend: we are troubled 
when it is troubled, calm when it is calm. We do not 
resist its current nor refuse its peace. Again, in memory 
of more recent fables, we might think of it as the river 
of death; but the travellers whom the saint carried over 
resumed their journey, and he himself, finally fording it, 
begins his true ministry of the gospel. Take it for some 
chief time of trouble, and we might perhaps, without much 
strain, suppose the meaning to be that the man who had 
sustained others in their chief earthly trials afterwards had 
Christ for companion in his own; but this idea would 
never occur easily and naturally to very simple persons 
who heard the story; it is rare that, among the many 
confused evils of existence, any of us can fix on that which, 
once traversed, was to be feared no more; and I should 
; D 


34 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


be extremely reluctant to offer to my Protestant readers, 
as the true sense of the loveliest of Catholic legends, the 
thought that common people were only to have a saint 
to comfort them in their troubles, while the saint himself 
had Christ. More and more, as I think over it, I am led 
to take it for the memory of what really once happened 
to some kindly warden of a river ford, bearing by the 
grace of natural human feeling comfort afterwards to all 
who hear of it for ever.” 

The legend goes on to relate how the dry fir tree that 
St. Christopher carried in his hand became green, after his 
ministry, and: was covered with fresh leaves. Mr. Ruskin 
compares with this the blossoming of the spears of Charle- 
magne's knights in the windows of Chartres cathedral, and 
adds. “It is, I suppose, only by the coincidence of thought 
which runs through all great literature and legend, that 
the putting forth of blossom by the rod of Aaron, and 
of leaf by the staff of St. Christopher, teach the life and 
beneficence of the sceptres of the just, as the for ever 
leafless sceptre of Achilles, and the spear whose image 
was the pine, hewn for ships of battle from the Norwegian 
hills, show in their own death the power of the kings of 
death.” 


LXVI. Results are in God’s Hands. Num. xxi. 
4. “The soul of the people was much discouraged because 
of the way.” 


A DISCOURAGED minister had the following strange dream. 
He thouzht he was standing on the top of a great granite 
rock, trying to break it with a pickaxe. Hour after hour 
he worked on with no result. At last he said, “It is 
useless; I will stop.” Suddenly a man stood by him and 
asked: “Were you not allotted this task? and if so, why 
are you going to abandon it?” “ My work is vain; I can 
make no impression on the granite.” Then the stranger 
solemnly replied: ‘That is nothing to you; your duty is to 
pick, whether the rock yield or no. The work is yours, 
the results are in other hands; work on.” In his dream 
he saw himsclf setting himself anew to his labour, and at 
his first blow the rock flew into hundreds.of pieces. This 
was only a dream, but it proved a valuable and never 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 35 
forgotten lesson to the minister, and a means of comfort 
and cheer to his soul. 


LXVII. Solid Happiness. Novum. xxiii. 10. “ Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and let my last end 4e like 
his!” 


“ My first convictions on the subject of religion,” says the 
late Rev. R. Cecil, “were confirmed by observing that really 
religious persons had some solid happiness among them, 
which I felt the vanities of the world could not give. I 
shall never forget standing by the bedside of my sick 
mother. ‘Are not you afraid to die?’ I asked. ‘No.’ 
‘Why does the uncertainty of another state give you no 
concern?’ ‘Because God has said: “ Fear not. 

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee: 
and through the rivers, “they shall not overflow thee.” 
‘Let me die the death of the righteous.’ ” 


LXVIII. The Bliss of Dying. Num. xxiii.1o. “ Zhe 
death of the righteous.” 


THE Rev. Henry Venn, of Huddersfield, and latterly of 
Yelling, in Huntingdonshire, was so elated at the prospect 
of death, that it actually proved a stimulus to life Upon 
one occasion, as he lay on his death-bed, he himself re- 
marked some bad symptoms, and said to Mr. Pearson, 
“Surely these are good symptoms for me”; to which his 
medical attendant replied, “Sir, in this state of joyous 
excitement you cannot die.” The joy of dying kept him 
alive. 


LXIX. Ready to Go. Num. xxiii. 10. “Zet me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.” 
JOHN ELIAS, the great Welsh preacher, had a happy death. 
It may be said of him in the exquisite lines of Dr. Watts— 
“ He stood, but with his starry pinions on, 

Dressed for the fight, and ready to be gone.” 


As he lay on his death-bed he said: “I am as happy as 
it is possible for a redeemed man to be, though in pain, 
in pain. There is not a cloud between me and the face of 


36 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


my God. The blessings and mercies I used to enjoy in 
my ministry are still flowing freely into my soul. They 
are more powerful, more lively in their effects on my soul 
than ever I felt them when I preached them to others.” 
Thus he passed away on June 8th, 1841, to his Saviour 
and his reward. His body was carried at the head of 
a funeral procession a mile and a half long, to the grave 
at Llanfaes, near Beaumaris. 

The Lord God of Elijah is still present in Israel, but 
the sons of the prophets need a double portion of the 
Spirit. Let the Churches lift up their cry, “Oh that Thou 
wouidest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come 
down!” Soshall greater deeds be wrought, and minis- 
tries given to the Church as powerful and as fruitful as 
was that of John Elias. 


LXX. The First Telegram in America. Num. 
xxiii. 23. ‘“ According to this time it shall be said of Jacob 
and of Israel, What hath God wrought!” 


THE first words ever flashed along an electric wire in 
America were, “What hath God wrought!” sent by a 
young girl from Washington to Baltimore. And when 
man’s science subdued the forces of the lightning and 
the ocean, and the electric cable first flashed its words 
from hemisphere to hemisphere, almost the first message 
was, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
goodwill toward men.” 


LXXI. The Detection of Sin is Certain. Num. 
xxxiil, 23. ‘“‘ Be sure your sin will find you out.” 


IN the most mysterious manner does the providence of 
God sometimes expose crime. The singular movements 
of some domestic animals ; the words written upon the 
wadding of some discharged gun; the caving in of banks, 
in the sand of which dead bodies have been buried; and 
other things as trivial, lead to the detection of criminals 
who suppose they have concealed all tokens of guilt in the 
graves of their victims. It is related of an eminent 
clergyman, that on one occasion, while walking in a grave- 
yard, he saw the sexton throwing up the bones of a 
human being. He took the skull in his hands, and on 


2 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 3 


examination saw a nail sticking into the temple. He drew 
it out, placed it in his pocket, and asked the sexton whose 
skull it was. On receiving the necessary information, he 
went to the widow, now an aged woman, and entered into 
conversation with her. He asked ner of what disease her 
husband died, and while she was giving an answer drew 
the nail from his vest, and asked her if she had ever seen 
it before. Struck with horror, the wretched woman con- 
fessed that she had murdered her husband, and that her 
own hand had driven into his temple that nail. 


LXXII. Good turned to Evil. Deut. xxiv. 24, 
“ For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire.” 


A GLASS inkstand was placed on the table so that the 
sun’s rays fell upon it. Brightly and cheerily, no doubt, 
they played upon its facets and angles; but that inkstand 
affected these beautiful sunbeams in such a way as to 
extract from them heat in sufficient force to set the table 
upon which it stood on fire, reducing it, and all it came - 
in contact with, into ashes. What is there more beauti- 
ful than the sunbeams? How they cheer and cherish 
and inspire nature all around! yet there are some objects 
which can convert this thing of beauty and health and life 
into a consuming fire. So there are moral characters 
which extract death out of life ; transform the loving, life- 
giving gospel into an instrument of destruction ; in short, 
cause the God of love to become to them a consuming 
fire. 


LXXIII The Stranger within thy Gates. 
Devt. v. 14. “ Thy stranger that is within thy gates.” 


A HIGHLY cultivated lawyer relates this incident of his 
early days. When a thoughtless youth, he wandered away 
to a distant city. The Sabbath came, and he was alone, 
with nothing but his own fancy or inclination to guide him 
in his selection of a place of worship. As he was going 
along the street, he passed by the door of a Bethel chapel. 
Hearing the voice of prayer, he turned back and entered. 
Scarcely was he seated, before the preacher, among the 
subjects of petition prayed for “the stranger within our 
gates.” He remained till the service was concluded, and 


38 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 


went to his room in tears. The words of supplication 
gathered around the word “stranger” rang in his memory. 
After relating the circumstance the lawyer adds : “ In public 
ministrations never forget the ‘stranger within thy gates.’ 
You will touch some heart, which will vibrate to the 
appeal.” 


LXXIV. The Arithmetic of Heaven. Devt. vi 4 
“ The Lord our God ts one Lord.” 


DANIEL WEBSTER had been attending Divine service in 
the Park-street Church, Boston. It is a staunch, orthodox 
church, and at that time was not in high favour with the 
Unitarians. Coming away from church, he was met by 
a Unitarian gentleman, who said to him, “So you have 
been to church, where they teach that three times one are 
one!” Mr. Webster replied with that solemn voice of his, 
now more intensely solemn than usual, “ My friend, you 
and I do not understand the arithmetic of heaven.” 

If any man less than Mr. Webster had made this reply, 
it might be considered an evasion of the difficulty sug- 
gested. Mr. Webster had been attending a church where 
the doctrine of the Trinity is taught, Three Persons in one 
Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Three in One. 
No human intellect can comprehend the mode of such 
existence; and some there are who reject the truth, 
because it does not seem to them reasonable that One 
should be Three, and Three should be One. 


LXXV. Loving God. Devt. vi. 5. “And thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with ail thy 
soul, and with ali thy might.” 


S1R DAVID BREWSTER was an earnest searcher after light. 
A memorable incident we.give in the words of his loving 
biographer. She is recording a conversation which her 
father had with her sister-in-law, Mrs. Macpherson, who 
says: “I had along talk with dear papa upon the suffer- 
ing of Christ, from which we passed on to speaking of the 
gratitude due to God. . . . We spoke of the possi- 
bility of feeling any love towards God, and agreed that 
such a sentiment of love as is possible between man and . 
man was impossible between man and God, ‘How can 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 30 


we love Him,’ he said, ‘One whom we have not seen? 
We admire Him in His works, and trust from the wisdom 
seen in these that He is wise in all His dealings ; but how 
can we LOVE Him?’” After this conversation, his daughter- 
in-law, being herself led to understand how alone the love 
of the unseen Christ can be shed abroad in the heart by 
the working of the Holy Spirit, felt that she must confess 
this change in her views and feelings. “He listened most 
attentively, and when I had finished, took me in his arms, 
kissed me, and said, in such a child-like manner, ‘Go now 
then, and pray that I may know it too.’” 


LXXVI. A Question for Parents. Devt. vi. 7. 
“ And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.” 


IT is related of Ben Ezra, that when yet a child he asked 
his teacher to be instructed in the law of God; but he was 
told that he was yet too young to be taught these sacred 
mysteries. ‘“ But, master,” said the boy, “I have been in 
the burial-ground, and I have measured the graves, and I 
find some shorter than myself. Now if I should be taken 
away by death before I know the word of God, what will 
become of me after?” 


LXXVII. The Haus-Segen. Deut. vi.9. “ And thou 
shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” 


THE mountainous region in the south-east of Bavaria is 
the home of a race of people, simple, pious, and primitive 
in their habits, even to the present day. It is the common 
custom of the Bavarian peasants to affix the “ Haus-Segen ” 
to their house doors. ‘his is a paper, with the outline of 
a heart printed in the centre, and surrounded by a circlet 
of smaller hearts. Each heart contains a prayer or some 
sacred verse, and the paper is sometimes decorated with 
tints of red, blue, and yellow. 


LXXVIII. Scripture Texts. Deut. xi. 18. “ There 
fore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your 
soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may 
be as frontlets between your eyes.” 


TEXTS of Scripture uscd to be painted on the doors of 
the Puritans, and over their fireplaces. Texts used to Le 


4o OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


stamped on kettles and skillets, wrought into garments, 
and even carved on the wooden cradles. The language of 
the Bible was with them the language of every-day life. 


LXXIX. Duty of Liberality. Deut. xv. 7. “ Thou 
shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy 
poor brother.” 


Mr. SHERMAN had the cause of the poor and needy very 
much at heart. Ona Friday morning’s service, when his 
congregation was, as it often was, a scanty one, the subject 
was Elisha multiplying the poor widow’s oil to pay the 
demands of her creditors. He depicted the need of poor 
widows, especially of ministers’ widows, often left utterly 
destitute, and mentioned a case just then known to him, 
where £25 pounds were needed to apprentice a minister's 
son ; and with such effect, that the dozen or two people 
present subscribed £18 before leaving the hall, more than 
enough to complete the sum required being sent in after- 
wards. Mr. Sherman was himself a man of great bene- 
volence. He gave liberally himself. We are told that his 
house was like the house of the relieving officer, besieged 
by needy applicants, and a deserving case was never sent 
unhelped away. The old people in the almshouses were 
often gladdened by parcels of tea and sugar or by small 
presents of money, and he never failed to remember them 
in his Christmas gifts. 


LXXX. Succour Men in Distress. Devt. xv. 11. 
“ For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore 1 
command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto 
thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” 


I WAS very much struck with an old Englishman that I 
knew, who used to do a great deal of amateur preaching 
and amateur teaching, visiting jails and poorhouses, who 
said to me one day, “I make them understand, wherever 
I go, that Iam never going to give them anything.” I 
said to myself, “ That being the general rule of your minis- 
tration, I would not give the turn of my hand for all the 
good that you will do.” A man who determines that he 
will not succour men that are in physical distress, through 
all the range of his ministration, will not do any good. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 41 


I did not then believe that he did any good; I do not 
believe it now; and since he is dead, I do not think he 
believes it. 


LXXXI. Moral Training of the Young. Devt. 
xxxil. 46. ‘And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto 
all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye 
shall command your children to observe to do, all the words 7 
this law.” 


THE strong feeling which Erasmus always had in regard 
to the careful moral training of the young appears in his 
“Manual.” “Let parents,” he says, “ who are Christians, not 
utter words before their children which give the lie to their 
faith. Let not the Christian mother indulge in unreason- 
able grief after bereavement, and let the father beware ot 
praising before his children the man who has made a 
fortune by doubtful means.” 


LXXXII. Venture on Him. Devt. xxxiii. 27. “ Under- 
neath are the everlasting arms.” 


I ONCE saw a lad on the roof of a very high building where 
several men were at work. He was gazing about with 
apparent unconcern, when his foot slipped, and he fell. In 
falling he caught by a rope, and hung suspended in mid 
air, where he could sustain himself but a short time. He 
perfectly knew his situation, and expected in a few minutes 
to be dashed on the stones below. At this moment a kind 
and powerful man rushed out of the house, and standing 
beneath him with extended arms called out, “Let go of 
the rope ; I will catch you.” “I can’t do it,” said the boy, 
“Let go, and I promise you shall escape unhurt.” The 
boy hesitated for a moment, and then quitting his hold, 
dropped easily and safely into the arms of his deliverer. 
Here is a simple act of faith, The poor boy knew his 
danger; he saw his deliverer, and heard his voice. He 
believed him, and letting go every other dependence and 
hope he dropped into his arms. 
“Venture on Him, venture freely, 
Let no other trust intrude ; 


None but Jesus 
Can do helpless sinners good.” 


42 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


LXXXIII. A Farewell Scene. Deut. xxxiv. 8 
“And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plain of 
Moab thirty days.” 


ROBERT MOFFAT laboured for more than fifty years 
in South Africa, and chiefly at Kuruman, amongst the 
Bechwanas. On Sunday, March 2oth, 1870, he preached 
for the last time in the Kuruman church, In all that 
great congregation there were few of his own contem- 
poraries left. The older people were for the most part 
children when he first came among them. With a pathetic 
grace, he pleaded with those who still remained unbelieving 
amid the gospel privileges they had now enjoyed for so 
many years, and he commended to the grace of God those 
converts who had been his joy and crown. It was an 
impressive close to an impressive career. On the Friday 
following the aged missionary and his wife took their 
departure. As they came out of their house and walked 
to their wagon, they were beset by crowds of the Bech- 
wanas, each longing for a hand-shake and another word 
of farewell ; and as the wagon drove away it was followed 
by all who could walk, and a long and pitiful wail arose, 
enough to melt the hardest heart. 


LXXXIV. Ruskin’s Bible. Josu. i.8. “ This book of 
the law shall not depart out of thy mouth ; but thou shalt medi- 
tate therein day and night.” 


JOHN RUSKIN writes thus in his “Outlines of Scenes and 
Thoughts in my Past Life”: “I have just opened my 
oldest (in use) Bible; a small, closely, and very neatly 
printed volume it is, printed in Edinburgh by Sir D. 
Hunter, Blain & J. Bruce, in 1816. Yellow now with age, 
and flexible, but not unclean, with much use, except that 
the lowest corners of the pages at 1 Kings vili, and 
Deuteronomy xxxii. are worn somewhat thin and dark, 
the learning of these two chapters having cost me much 
pains. My mother’s list of the chapters with which, thus 
learned, she established my soul in life, has just fallen out 
of it. I will take what indulgence the incurious reader can 
give me for printing the list thus accidentally occurrent. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 43 


Exodus xv., Xx. 

2 Samuel i. from seventeenth verse to the end. 

1 Kings viii. 

Psalms xwniii., xxxii., xe., xci, ciii., cxii, cxix., cxxxix. 

Proverbs ii., iii., viii., xii. 

Isaiah lviii. 

Matthew v., vi, vii. 

Acts xxvi. 

1 Corinthians xiii., xv. 

James iv. 

Revelation v., vi. 

“And truly, though I have picked up the elements of 
a little further knowledge—in mathematics, meteorology, 
and the like—in after life, and owe not a little to the teach- 
ing of many people, this maternal installation of my mind 
in that property of chapters I count very confidently the 
most precious, and, on the whole, the one essential part of 
all my education.” 


LXXXV. Rahab. Josu. ii. 1. “And.they went, and came 
into a harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” 


“ RAHAB had wrecked her life; mast was broken, sail was 
gone, rudder was lost! She was a helpless, ruined woman. 
But as sailors have found a mere timber of what was a 
ship with the compass clinging to it, and pointing away to 
its northern star, so from amidst the fragments of what 
was once a woman’s life, as they drifted along the streets 
of Jericho, Rahab’s heart was trembling away towards the 
Star that should come out of Jacob, and the Sceptre that 
would rise out of Israel.” 


LXXXVI. A Moravian Missionary. Josu. xiii. 33. 
“ But unto the tribe of Levi Moses gave not any inheritance: 
the Lord God of Israel was their inheritance, as he said unto 
them.” 


THE Moravian missionary, Zeisberger, who laboured for 
sixty-three years among the Red Indians, never took a 
penny from the Church for his support. “ 1 am no hireling,” 
he said quietly ; “ God set me this work.” 

Zeisberger died in extreme old age in an Indian village. 


44 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Bishop de Schweinitz, in his history of the Moravian 
missionary, tells us that, when the hour of his death drew 
nigh, the passing bell tolled, and his white friends, the 
Brethren, withdrew and gave way to the Lenape Indians, 
who gathered around his bed. They sang the hymns in 
their own tongue, which he had written for them, and on 
these strains of lofty hope his soul passed. “Then,” says 
the chronicler, “the red men fell upon their knees, and 
wept aloud, fer they knew that their best friend was gone 
for ever.” 


LXXXVII. A Soldier of Jesus Christ. Josu. 
xxiv. 24. “Zhe Lord our God will we serve, and His voice 
will we obey.” 


THE following anecdotes are told of David Sandeman, the 
devoted missionary : 

“ Delighting as he did in vigorous exercise and gymnastic 
feats, he one day, in a walk with two companions, joined 
for a few minutes in the amusement of leaping over the 
stile at one corner of the old Queen’s Park. While his 
companions failed, he cleared the stile so easily and grace- 
fully as to draw forth the admiration of a dragoon who 
stood by. When about to walk on Mr. Sandeman turned 
to the soldier, got him into conversation, and spoke of the 
perils and honours of a life like his. Then suddenly draw- 
ing himself up to his full height, he exclaimed with deep 
feeling: ‘There is something far better yet! It is to be 
a soldier of Jesus Christ. Are you that?’ The dragoon 
looked with wonder on the man of muscle and sinew who 
could thus speak to his soul, and shook hands at parting, 
evidently deeply interested. Scenes like these were con- 
tinually recurring; but this power of gracefully turning 
every little event into a means of usefulness could exist 
only in one whose natural atmosphere was the love of God, 
and in whose soul there was an uninterrupted gravitation 
towards his Divine Savicur. 

“One day, in harvest, finding by the roadside a woman 
cutting grass, he plucked a head of wheat, and told her how 
acorn of wheat must die before that beautiful head could 
spring up, and that so Christ must needs die ere we could 
be saved. The woman was astonished, and the young 
missionary went on his way, praying that the Lord might 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 45 


send his word to her heart. So continually did he act 
upon his favourite text, ‘Whose I am, and whom I serve,’ 
that in a brief summer excursion in the west of Scotland, 
a companion of his journey informs us, that he believes 
that he must have spoken to not less than five hundred 
persons in the course of their pedestrian excursion, and 
that when opportunity occurred he was as direct and ready 
in addressing the rich as the poor.” 


LXXXVIII. Devoutness of Spirit. Jup. v. 16. 
“ Great searthings of heart.” 


THE great secret of all Sherman’s success as a preacher lay 
in the devoutness of his spirit, and the closeness of his 
communion with God, and his earnest, humble searching 
of heart. Here are some of his “ resolves,” dated Feb. 2oth, 
1841: 

“1, To rise at seven o’clock every morning, and to spend 
half an hour with God before breakfast in reading the 
Scriptures and prayer. 

“2. To select some portion out of one of the chapters 
for meditation through the day. 

“3. To retire some time during the day for prayer, and 
to give as much time as possible in the evening to this 
exercise. 

“4. To pray with my dear wife. 

“sc. To seek specially the salvation of my family by 
prayer and correspondence. 

“6, Not to go where temptations to any of my besetting 
sins are sure to abound. 

“7. To plead with God for more conversions amongst the 
people, and to visit them, and to labour at my sermons more 
and more. Oh, how wonderful that the people will come 
and hear me! O Lord, strengthen me, help me to put these 
resolves into practice, and never to depart from them. 
Now help me to plead for grace to perform my vows. Oh, 
kiss the prodigal, and welcome him to his Father’s heart!” 


LXXXIX. An African Convert. RuvurtH ii 12 
“ Under whose wings thou art come to trust.” 


IN an article by Robert Moffat, the famed missionary to 
the Africans, he tells of a young man who accompanied 


46 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


him in a missionary tour. Marelolé was clever and intelli- 
gent and an inquirer, who would soon have been received 
into Church fellowship. The camp was visited by the well- 
known African fever, and Marelolé was seized, and had a 
relapse. He became insensible, and lay for two days 
motionless in a comatose condition, from which no effort 
could rouse him. On the evening of the second day 
Moffat was at work repairing a wagon, when he heard 
some one singing in a clear voice, and on inquiring who 
was singing to the sick man, was told, “It is himself.” He 
hastened to the spot, and found it even so. The sick man 
was singing one of the hymns which embodied some of 
the thrilling parts of Psalm Ixxxiv. Moffat knelt down 
beside him, and listened with inexpressible feelings of grati- 
tude. As he sang the last verse he spoke to him; he was 
deaf, and his pulse was performing its last beats ; and while 
the missionary looked at the now motionless lips, the spirit 
departed to that heavenly Zion about which he had just 
been singing. 


XC. The Most Unfashionable of all Books. 
1 Sam. iii. 4. “ Zhe Lord called Samuel: and he answered, 
Here am I.” 


Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS tells us that he was exceedingly 
mortified when he showed his picture of the prophet 
Samuel’s call to some of the great, because they asked him 
who Samuel was. One of his friends told him “that he 
must get somebody to make an oratorio of Samuel, and 
then it would not be vulgar to confess they knew some- 
thing of him. I tell him that I hope the poets and painters 
will at last bring the Bible into fashion, and that people 
will get to like it from taste, though they are insensible 
to its spirit, and afraid of its doctrines. I love this great 
genius for not being ashamed to take his subjects from the 
most unfashionable of all books.” 


XCI. Called of God. 1Sam. iii. 4. “ Zhe Lord called 


Samuel: and he answered, Here am I,” 


DAVID ZEISBERGER was a most devoted worker amongst: 
the Red Indians of America, and did a noble work in 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 47 


Christianizing and civilizing these wild tribes. His early 
history is interesting. 

David Zeisberger’s forefathers were peasants, the follow- 
ers of John Huss. When he was five years old his family 
fled, to escape persecution, to Herrnhut, where Count Zin- 
zendorf then had gathered the remaining Hussites. David's 
father and mother were among the Herrnhutters sent by 
Zinzendorf to Georgia, but the boy was left in Moravia, to 
be educated by the Church of the Unitas Fratrum. He 
was a small, delicate lad, with something in his face which 
attracted the notice of Zinzendorf. He sent the boy to a 
prosperous community of the Church near Utrecht, where 
education, as in godly private families of the time, was given 
through the lash. David went through a steady discipline 
of work, beatings, and fastings. 

One day a stranger whom he helped, when he was lost 
in the morasses near the town, gave him two pieces of gold, 
bidding him keep them and not give them to the com- 
munity. David’s conscience however forced him to give 
one piece to the Brethren, who immediately charged him 
with having stolen it, and publicly punished him as a liar 
and a thief. 

This was the stroke too much. That night David, with 
another boy named Shober, escaped from the community 
and set off to America, with no means but the solitary 
piece of gold which he had kept. It paid their way to 
London ; there General Oglethorpe met the lads, and, struck 
by David’s sensitive face and singular gravity, procured 
them a free passage to Savannah. 

In the backwoods of Georgia, Zeisberger at last found 
his father and mother. 

He was much impressed by the sight of the poor savages 
around him, and often pondered the question whether or 
not he should devote his life to the work of bringing those 
lost heathen to God. 

Just at this juncture arrived Count Zinzendorf. He saw 
the lad, and detected again the same singular hint of 
promise on his face—a prophecy which he could not in- 
terpret. 

He told the Brethren that the boy must have a chance, 
and appointed him one of his staff to return with him to 
Moravia. David came with him to Philadelphia, and em- 


48 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


barked, with the understanding that a clear road to fortune 
lay before him in Europe, and that he never was to return 
to America. 

The ship weighed anchor. Bishop Nitschmann, passing 
down the deck, saw the lad, pale and haggard, gazing at 
the receding shore. 

“Zeisberger,” he said, “is it possible that you wish to 
return ?” 

i Ga es 

“ But for what reason ?” 

“That I may learn to know Christ, and teach Him to 
the Indians,” said David, finding speech at last in his ex- 
tremity. 

“Then if that be your mind, in God’s name even now 
go back!” 

The ship was brought to, and the boy sent back. After 
this the Moravians regarded him as Eli did Samuel: he 
was called of God. His name was entered on the list 
of the Brethren and their trades, as David Zeisberger, 
destinirter Heidenbote. 

The lad at once left the community and went to the 
lodge of the great sachem of the Mohawks, and there lived 
and worked to learn thoroughly the habits and language of 
the Indians. He was adopted into the tribe of the Onon- 
dagas. 

Thus began the remarkable history of a work which 
extended over sixty-two years. 


XCII. A Noble Resignation to God’s Will. 
1 SAM. iii. 18. “Jt ts the Lord: let Him do what secmeahk 
Him good.” 


“Do you know ¢his, Master Cameron?” said an exe- 
cutioner, startling the old Christian in his cell, and showing 
something in a basket. It was a fair-haired, youthful head, 
just stricken off. “I know it, I know it; my son’s, my 
own dear son’s. It is the Lord; good is the will of the 
Lord, who cannot wrong me nor mine, but has made good- 
ness and mercy follow us all our days.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 49 


XCIII. A Man of Prayer. 1 Sam. xv. 11. “He cried 
unto the Lord all night.” 


JoHN WELCH, of Ayr, was pre-eminently a man of prayer. 
Whilst minister at Ettrick he was boarded in the house of 
one named Mitchelhill. A son of his landlord, who slept 
with Welch, used to tell, in after years, how he would lay 
a Scot’s plaid above his bedclothes, and would rise and 
cover himself with it when he went to prayer ; for, from the 
beginning of his ministry, “he reckoned the day ill-spent if 
he stayed not seven or eight hours in prayer.” 

He would, we are told, retire many nights to the church, 
and spend the whole night in prayer—praying with an 
audible and sometimes with a loud voice. Once his wife, 
going at night to his closet, where he had been long at 
prayer, and fearing he should catch cold, heard him say, 
“Lord, wilt Thou not grant me Scotland?” and, after a 
pause, “ Enough, Lord, enough.” Once he got such near- 
ness to the Lord in prayer that he exclaimed, “Hold Thy 
hand, Lord ; remember Thy servant is a clay vessel, and 
can hold no more.” 


XCIV. Impure Motives in Religious Work. 
1 Sam. xv. 22. “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt 
offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?” 


THE traveller from Rome to Gaeta crosses the Maremma. 
He watches the sun setting over its dim, dismal, and yet 
majestic fanes ; he sees a white mist rising soft, beautiful, 
tinged now with the fair glow of sunlight, now with the 
paler shades of moonlight—a beautiful mist indeed ; but 
plunge into it, and the mist is poison. Just as fatal are the 
effects of religious work when engaged in from impure 
motives. 


XCV. The Intellect and the Heart. 1 Sam. xvi. 
q. “For the Lord seeth not as man seetth: . . . the Lord 
looketh on the heart.” 


ON some Church festival, when the morning services were 

over, Massillon, the great preacher, entertained a party at 

dinner. A remark made by one of the guests, that it was 

time that something should be done to turn the holy day 
E 


50 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


—_—_— 


to edification, induced Massillon to fetch one of his sermons 
and read it to the company. A lady, by way of expressing 
admiration, exclaimed that if she had written such a 
sermon, she would certainly be reckoned among the saints. 
“ Ah, madame!” was the old bishop's reply, “it is a long 
bridge which leads from the intellect to the heart.” “ Yes, 
indeed,” muttered an Oratorian of Jansenist proclivities, 
who happened to be present ; “and there are quite four 
arches of the bridge already broken down.” 


XCVI. The Soothing Power of Music. 1 Sam. 
xvi. 23. “So Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil 
spirit departed from him.” 


THIs remarkable instance of the power of music over the 
mind, especially in soothing its perturbations and allaying 
its disorders, is in conformity with the experience of 
physicians, and with various intimations which may be 
found in ancient authors. More or less so are those other 
scriptural instances, which evince the power of music over 
the moods of even the sanest minds, as in the case of 
Elisha, who called for the aid of a minstrel to bring his 
mind into the frame best suited to receive the impulses of 
the prophetic spirit. One would almost think, that there 
was some power in ancient music, which has since been 
lost, or that there existed, amid the simple manners of 
ancient times, a susceptibility to the influence of sweet and 
solemn sounds, which has been lost in the multitudinous 
business and varied pursuits of modern existence. But in 
truth, the wonderful effects so often described resulted 
from the concurrence of masterly skill in the minstrel with 
a peculiar sensibility to the influence of sweet sounds in 
the patient. And that where this concurrence is found 
it will still produce the same effect as of old, one or two 
“modern instances” may be cited to show. 

In the J/émoires of the French Royal Academy of 
Sciences for 1707 are recorded many accounts of diseases, 
which, having obstinately resisted the remedies prescribed 
by the most able of the faculty, at length yielded to the 
powerful impression of harmony. One of these is the 
case of a person who was seized with fever, which soon 
threw him into a very vivicnt delirium, almost without any 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 51 


interval, accompanied by bitter cries, by tears, by terrors, 
and by an almost constant wakefulness. On the third day, 
a hint that fell from himself suggested the idea of trying 
the effect of music. Gradually as the strain proceeded his 
troubled visage relaxed into a most serene expression, his 
restless eyes became tranquil, his convulsions ceased, and 
the fever absolutely left him. It is true, that when the 
music was discontinued his symptoms returned ; but, by 
frequent repetitions of the experiment, during which the 
delirium always ceased, the power of the disease was 
broken, and the habits of a sound mind re-established. Six 
days sufficed to accomplish the cure. 


XCVII. The Habit of Prayer. 1 Sam. xxii.4. “J 
will call on the Lord.” 


FELIX NEFF, in speaking on the subject of prayer, has 
strikingly remarked: “When a pump is frequently used, but 
little pains are necessary to obtain water; it flows out at 
the first stroke, because the water ishigh. But if the pump 
has not been used for a long time, the water gets low, and 
when it is wanted, you must pump a great while, and the 
stream comes only after great efforts. And so it is with 
prayer; if we are instant in it and faithful to it, every little 
circumstance awakens the disposition to pray, and desires 
and words are always ready. But if we neglect prayer, it 
is dificult for us to pray, for the water in the well gets 
low.” 

The thought is full of suggestions, of counsel, admoni- 
tion, instruction. Zhe human heart 1s a leaky vessel; and 
in a world like this, the tendency of spirituality, like that of 
water, is downward. If we neglect prayer, little by little 
we soon lose its sfzvzt ; and its spirit declining, its hadzt 
is soon laid aside, or retained only in the form ; and as the 
next step the form itself will soon be given up, the soul 
becoming prayerless, and the heart and life alike forsaken 
of God. 


XCVIII. An Emperor’s Shame. 1 Sam. xxiv. 19. 
“ For tf a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away ?” 


JOHN Huss, in spite of the pledged safe-conduct of the 
Emperor Sigismund, was thrust intoa miserable prison cell, 


§2 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


where you may still see the stone to which he was chained. 
In vain in the full council he made the hot blush of shame 
burn on the cheek of the emperor by reminding him of 
his violated word. A hundred years later that blush saved 
the life of Martin Luther. When Charles V. was urged to 
seize Luther in spite of his safe-conduct, he replied, “I do 
not want to blush like Sigismund.” 


XCIX. No Fear, no Hope. 2 Sam. iii 33. “Died 
Abner as a fool dieth?” 


Mr. ROBERT OWEN once visited a gentleman who was a 
believer. In walking out they came to the gentleman’s 
family grave ; Owen addressing him said: “ There is one 
advantage I have over Christians, I am not afraid to die. 
Most Christians are afraid to die; but if some of my 
business were settled, I should be perfectly willing to die 
at any moment.” “Well,” said his companion, “you say 
you have no fear in death ; have you any hope in death ?” 
After a solemn pause he replied, ““Wo/” “Then,” replied 
the gentleman, pointing to an ox standing near, “you are 
on a level with that brute; he has fed till he is satisfied, 
and stands in the shade whisking off the flies, and has 
neither hope nor fear.” 


C. My Trouble. 2 Sam. xii. 19. “Js the child dead? 
And they said, He ts dead.” 


“ SoME of you have especial trouble. God only knows what 
you go through with. Oh, how many bereavements, how 
many poverties, how many persecutions, how many mis- 
representations! Some of you feel like a poor fisherman 
who was chided one day because he kept on working, 
although that very day he buried his child. They came to 
him and said, ‘It is indecent for you to be mending that 
boat, when this afternoon you buried your child’ And 
the fisherman looked up and said, ‘Sir, it is very easy for 
you gentlefolks to stay in the house with your handkerchief 
to your eyes in grief; but, sir, ought I to let the other five 
children starve because one of them is drowned? No, sir; 
we maun work, we maun work, though our hearts beat like 
this hammer.’” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 53 


———— «. 


CI. A Child’s Death. 2 Sam. xii. 23. “JZ shall go to 
him, but he shall not return to me.” 


ROBERT and Mary Moffat, the famed missionaries of 
Southern Africa, returned in 1839 to England, for the 
printing of the New Testament in the Sechwana language, 
which Moffat had then completed. On board ship, before 
they left Table Bay, a daughter was born. In a few hours 
the ship put to sea; but severe weather set in, and in the 
midst of the general distress it became apparent to the 
mother that one of her younger sons was dying. Jamie 
_had never overcome an attack of measles, and three days 
after the birth of his sister he passed away, at the age of 
six years. Amidst the storm he lay upon his mother’s 
arm, peacefully talking of the angels who should bear to 
the heavenly land the spirits of children, and with the 
words, “Oh that will be joyful, when we meet to part no 
more!” on his lips, he fell asleep in Jesus. 


CII. A Father’s Lament. 2 Sam. xviil. 33. “O my son 
Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died 
for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” 


A RUMOUR once reached Andrew Fuller that his wild son 
Robert, who had been impressed as a sailor on board a 
man-of-war, had been tried for desertion, and had died 
under the infliction of a stern sentence. The rumour 
however was afterwards proved to be false. The father’s 
words about this have condensed into them all the agony 
of grieved affection, and seem like bitter drops of distilled 
pain. 

“In former cases my sorrow found vent in tears; but 
now I can seldom weep. A kind of morbid heart-sickness 
preys upon me from day to day. Every object around me 
reminds me of him! Ah!. . . he was wicked,and mine 
eye was not over him to prevent it;. . . He was de- 
tected and tried, and condemned, andI knewit not;. . . 
he cried under his agonies, but I heard him not;. . . 
he expired, without an eye to pity or a hand to help him! 
O Absalom, my son, my son! would God I had died for 
thee, my son |” 


$4 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CIII. The Sweetest Name. 2 Sam. xxii. 3. “Jn Him 
will I trust: Heis my shield, and the horn of my salvation, 
my high tower, and my refuge, my Saviour.” 


THE son of Sir James Mackintosh gives some account of 
the dying words of his father. “I observed that at every 
mention of the name of Jesus his eyes were unclosed. J 
said to him at one time, ‘Jesus Christ loves you.’ He 
answered slowly, and pausing between each word, ‘Jesus 
Christ—love—the same thing. He uttered these last 
words with a sweet smile. After a long silence, he said, 
‘I believe.’ We said, in a voice of inquiry, ‘In God?’ 
He answered, ‘In Jesus.’ He spoke but once after this. 
Upon our inquiry how he felt, he said he was happy.” 


CIV. Tried before Trusted. 2 Sam. xxii. 31. “ Zhe 
word of the Lord its tried.” 


A NEW steamboat has to be tried before passengers and 
freight can be trusted on board. A new railroad has its 
. trial trips before it is thrown open to the public. <A few 
years ago, at the opening of a railroad in Missouri, a train 
of cars filled with people, many of them gentlemen invited 
by the directors, set out from St. Louis on a trial trip. On 
swept the train. The party were in high spirits, when in 
an instant crash, crash! Timbers split, joists snapped, 
one terrible plunge, and down went the cars through a 
breaking bridge into the river below, a heap of ruins, 
That bridge was trusted defore it had been tried, 


CV. Fulfilling his Mission. 1 Kincs xiii. 8,9. “Ff 
thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not go in-with thee, 
neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place: for se 
was it charged me by the word of the Lord.” 


THE parish of R , within the bounds of the presbytery 
of Edinburgh, had become vacant, and a presentation had 
been issued by the noble earl in whom the patronage 
was vested in favour of an individual who was obnoxious 
to the people, or, at least, who had not their consent te 
his becoming their pastor and spiritual instructor. In 
default of this Dr. Erskine strongly opposed his induction 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 55 


in the Church courts. His opposition was however fruit- 
less ; the necessary forms were ordered to be gone through, 
and the admission to take place, and, with a refinement 
of cruelty not unknown in those woeful days, Dr. Erskine 
himself was appointed to preside at the moderating of the 
call. This he did, in obedience to his ecclesiastical superiors. 
With his staff in his hand he walked from Edinburzh to 
R —., a distance of eight miles, on the morning of the 
appointed day; not being well acquainted with the place 
or the road, and immersed in deep thought, he went a con- 
siderable way beyond the church, and stopped only when 
he thought that he must have made a mistake, and had 
gone farther than was necessary. Meeting a man coming 
towards him, and dressed apparently in his Sunday suit, 
he conjectured that he might be going to the church, and 
inquired the road thither. The man told the doctor that he 
had gone a good bit too far, but that he would conduct him 
back to the church, as he was himself going there. In the 
door of the porch, and at the entrance to the churchyard, 
stood the patron peer and some others, who, observing Dr. 
Erskine to be fatigued, invited him to take some refresh- 
ment before entering on the duties of the day. This offer 
he gently declined, and passed directly into the church 
and to the pulpit. He went through the services with 
dignity and calmness, and fulfilled his mission. On re- 
turning from the church he was again accosted by the 
patron, who entreated him to rest a while and accept of 
some refreshment. His calm yet firm and solemn answer 
was to this effect: “I feel obliged by your politeness, my 
lord ; but ‘if thou wilt give me half thine house, I will not 
go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water 
in this place: for so was it charged me by the word of 
the Lord.’” And the good doctor walked his way back to 
Edinburgh, without a rest or even a halt. 


CVI. Death of Children. 1 Kuincs xiv. 17. “Zhe 
child died.” 


MANY a little child Jesus has called to Him. Little 
Maggie was very ill of a fever, and the van had been sent 
to take her away to the infirmary. Maggie was dressed 
and ready, “Maggie, it’s time for you to go,” said her 


56 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


mother. “Ye know, mother,” said Maggie, “I'll maybe 
no come back: will the man wait till I sing my hymn?” 
Even a hard heart could not have refused, and so the man 
waited while the little feeble voice saflg,— 


“ Here in the body pent, 
Absent from Him I roam ; 
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent 
A day’s march nearer home.” 


And then they carried the dying child, with joyous thoughts 
like these filling her young heart, to the infirmary, whence 
the last stage of the journey from this to the eternal world 
is often taken. 


CVII. In the Hour of Extremity. 1 Krncs xvii. 6. 
“And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, 
and bread and flesh in the evening ; and he drank of the brook.” 


IN a Christian home in Poland great poverty had come, 
and on the day-week the man was obliged to move out of 
the house with his whole family. That night he knelt, 
with his family, and prayed to God. While they were 
kneeling in prayer there was a tap on the window pane. 
They opened the window, and there was a raven that the 
family had fed and trained, and it had in its bill a ring all 
set with precious stones, which was found out to be a ring 
belonging to the royal family. It was taken up to the 
king’s residence, and for the honesty of the man in bring- 
ing it back he had a house given to him, and a garden, 
and a farm. Who was it that sent the raven tapping 
on the window? The same God that sent the raven to 
feed Elijah by the brook Cherith—Christ in the hour of 
extremity ! 


CVIII,. “Stand Still.” 1 Kincs xvii. 18. “Call my sin 
to remembrance.” 


THE son of a pious man enlisted in a regiment of the 
guards. His father accompanied him to his quarters, 
exhorted him to remember his daily prayers, and on 
parting from him spoke as follows: “My son, if our 
gracious God bring thy sins to remembrance when thou 
art among strangers, stand still and take off thy hat, fox 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 57 


the Lord is about to speak with thee.” The young man 
entered the barracks with the best intentions; at first he 
was much ridiculed by his comrades on account of his 
habit of prayer, then he quite left it off and forgot all about 
it. The first time however that he mounted guard, and 
had to take off his helmet at evening prayer, his father’s 
words returned to his mind; he prayed in very deed, and 
the Holy Spirit brought his sins to his remembrance. 
This was how the turning-point of his life came about, 
and the letter that he wrote on the subject to his father 
occasioned much joy and thankfulness in his old home. 


CIX. Card-Playing. 1 Kines xviii. 21. “And Elijah 
came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between 
two opinions? Lf the Lord be God, follow Him: but if Baal, 
then follow him.” 


Mr. ROMAINE was once addressed by a lady, who ex- 
pressed the great pleasure she had enjoyed under his 
preaching, and added that she could comply with his 
requirements, with the exception of one thing. “And 
what is that, madam ?” asked Mr. Romaine. “Cards, sir.” 
“You think you could not be happy without them?” “No, 
sir; I know I could not.” “Then, madam, they are your 
god, and they must save you.” This pointed admonition 
led to serious reflection, and finally to the abandonment of 
such unworthy pleasures. 


CX. “The Journey is too Great for Thee.” 
1 Kines xix. 7. “ Zhe journey ts too great for thee.” 


THIS text has been illustrated by ten thousand men. 
Livingstone consecrated himself to African exploration. 
He performed two journeys, but the third was too great 
for him. His health failed. Two of his servants deserted 
him, and they took with them his medicine chest. “I 
never dreamed,” he wrote, “that I should lose my precious 
quinine.” One of the last entries in his journal was: “I 
am pale, bloodless, and weak from bleeding profusely ever 
since March 31st last. An artery gives off a copious 
stream, and takes away my strength; oh, how I long to be 
permitted by the Over-Power to finish my work!” When 


58 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


he could work no longer he was carried on a frame of 
wood with some grass and a blanket upon it. And when 
he could endure to be carried no farther, his faithful ser- 
vants built-him a little hut, and in that rude structure he 
died. He was a great traveller. He contributed much 
to our knowledge of Central Africa. The coloured races 
owe him a mighty debt of gratitude. He was one of the 
bravest of Christian men. But the journey of African 
exploration was too great for him. 


CXI. A Martyr at the Stake. 1 Kuinos xix. 14 
“ Slain Thy prophets.” 


On Huss firmly refusing to retract his opinions unless they 
were proved from the word of God to be erroneous, he 
was at length, with horrible solemnity, doomed to perish 
by fire as an obstinate heretic. On July 6th, 1415, 
sentence was formally pronounced upon him; and, after 
being stripped of his priestly garments, and subjected to 
various dreadful indignities, he was handed over to the 
secular arm for execution. A paper crown, painted over 
with figures of devils, and bearing the inscription “heresi- 
arch,” was put upon his head. “We thus devote thee to 
the infernal devils!” the prelates piously exclaimed ; 
whereupon the martyr replied, “I am glad to wear this 
crown of ignominy, for the love of Him who wore a crown 
of thorns.” He marched to the stake with wonderful com- 
posure, as if his heart were glad. A Roman historian who 
witnessed the scene says that he looked like a man going 
to a grand banquet. Arriving at the place of execution, 
Huss fell down on his knees and prayed aloud. Many of 
the people who heard him said to one another, “What 
this man has done before we know not; but now he has 
offered up most excellent prayers to God.” When he had 
been tied to the stake, the faggots, piled up all round him, 
were kindled; and in less than a quarter of an hour John 
Huss expired amidst smoke and flame, with his last breath 
committing his soul to the Lord Jesus Christ, who had 
redeemed him. The ashes of his body were hastily gathered 
up by the executioners, and cast into the Rhine; but a 
good portion of the earth on which he was consumed, con- 
taining at least some of his remains, was conveyed to his 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 59 


native Bohemia, where to this day he is held in the highest 
veneration. The name of John Huss is as dear to the 
Bohemians as the name of William Tell is to the Swiss, or 
the names of William Wallace and Joh Knox are to the 
people of Scotland. 


CXII. Soul Murder. 1 Kincs xxi. 25. “ Ahab, which 
did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.” 


An American writer says: “When Charles IX. of France 
was importuned to kill Coligny, he for a long time refused 
to do so publicly or secretly; but at last he gave way, 
and consented in these memorable words, ‘ Assassinate 
Admiral Coligny, but leave not a Huguenot alive in 
France to reproach me.’s So came the massacre of St. 
Bartholomew. When the soul resolves to assassinate some 
holy motive, when the spirit determines to kill, in the 
inner realm, Admiral Coligny, it too delays for a while; 
and, when it gives way, usually says, ‘Assassinate this 
accuser of mine; but leave not an accusing accomplice of 
his in all my kingdom alive to reproach me.’ So comes 
the massacre of the desire to be holy. 

“Emerson quotes the Welsh Triad as saying, ‘God 
Himself cannot procure good for the wicked.’ Julius 
Miiller, Dorner, Rothe, Schleiermacher, no less than Plato, 
Aristotle, and Socrates, assert that, in the nature of things, 
there can be no blessedness without holiness. Confucius 
said, ‘Heaven means principle. But what if a soul per- 
manently loses principle? Sz ves fugere a Deo, fuge ad 
Deum, is the Latin proverb. If you wish to flee from God, 
flee to Him. The soul cannot escape from God; and can 
two walk togcther unless they are agreed? Surely there 
are a few certainties in religion, or several points clear to 
exact ethical science in relation to the natural conditions 
of the peace of the soul.” 


CXIII. “Seed Corn.” 2 Kincsii. 3. “ Zhe sons of the 
prophets that were at Bethel.” 


THE great importance of the work done in our educational 
institutions for young ministers was never more strikingly 
emphasized than by the missionary Judson, who said, as he 


60 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


was approaching Madison University, “If I had a thousand 
dollars, do you know what I would do with it?” The 
person asked supposed he would invest it in foreign 
missions. “I would put it into such institutions as that,” 
he said, pointing to the college buildings. “ Planting col- 
leges, and filling them with studious young men, és planting 
seed corn for the world,” 


CXIV. The Chariot of Fire. 2Kuincsii 1. “Ana 
it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, 
there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted 
them both asunder.” 


Two little boys were talking together about Elijah’s going 
to heaven in a chariot of fire. , 

“T say, Charlie,” said George, “but would not you be 
afraid to ride on such a chariot?” 

“Why, no; I shouldn’t be afraid if I knew that the Lord 
was driving.” 

That was what David felt when he said, “ What time I 
am afraid, I will trust in Thee,” 


CXV. A French Minister. 2 Kuincs iv. 34. “And 
he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon 
his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his 
hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh 
of the child waxed warm.” 


BOSSUET, Bourdaloue, and Massillon form a triad, each of 
whom habitually suggests the other two, so closely linked 
together have they become in the annals of the Christian 
pulpit. Of these three illustrious French preachers, it is 
Massillon who has become most familiar among us. In 
1717 he preached what is known as the “ Petit Caréme,” 
a course of ten lectures addressed to the young king, 
then nine years old. These lectures had an immense 
reputation, and were mostly idyllic pictures of the duties of 
good kings and nobles. When Massillon was a year after- 
wards received into the Academy, the Abbé Claude Fleury 
complimented him on having wisely accommodated his 
teaching to the youth of the king, after the example of the 
prophet Elisha, who contracted himself to the measure of 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 61 


the Shunammite’s child, placing mouth to mouth, eyes to 
eyes, hands to hands, that he might recall the departed 
life. 


CXVI. An Early Riser. 2 Kincs vi. 15. “ And 
when the servant of the man of God was risen early.” 


For the last fifty years of his life Mr. Romaine regularly 
rose at five, breakfasted at six, dined at one, supped at 
eight, and retired at nine. He took little or no wine, and 
lived on the plainest food. Romaine’s last illness attacked 
him on June 6th, 1795. He had more than once said: 
“Who can tell—I cannot—how great the love was which 
provided a Saviour for such a rebel ? What patience, how 
infinite! to spare me through childhood, through youth, 
through manhood, when every day, and everything in the 
day, were calling aloud for vengeance!” 


CXVII. The Conversion of the Heathen. 2 
Kincs vii. 19. “ Vow, behold, if the Lord should make win- 
dows in heaven, might such a thing be?” 


THE opposition Carey met in his desires to Christianize the 
heathen seem to us wonderful and incredible. Indeed the 
greater portion of Carey’s ministerial friends were them- 
selves either opposed or doubtful. Mr. Fuller was so 
startled by the novelty and the magnitude of the proposal, 
that he described his feelings as resembling those of the 
unbelieving Israelite, “If the Lord should make windows 
in heaven, might such things be?” When at a gathering 
of ministers in Northampton, Carey suggested as a topic 
for discussion the duty of Christians to attempt the con- 
version of the heathen, Mr. Ryland, the father of Dr. 
Ryland, sprang to his feet and said: “ Young man, sit 
down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He 
will do it without your help or mine!” 


CXVIII. Heathen Honesty. 2 Kincs xii. 15. ‘“ For 
i they dealt faithfully.” 


AT one time Dr. Moffat, the missionary to Africa, wished 
to send supplies and letters to Dr. Livingstone. Unable 


62 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


to complete the trip himself, he committed his charge to 
natives, the result justifying his confidence in them. 

These supplies had been made up into bundles for 
carrying on men’s shoulders. It afterwards proved that — 
these men faithfully discharged their trust. As privileged 
persons, carrying the packages of a missionary, they 
crossed the border country in safety and descended into the 
valley of the Zambesi, where there were none but their 
sworn enemies the Makololo, and at last presented them- 
selves on the south bank of the river at a spot where they 
could shout across to an island in the river, and announce 
their errand. Small as their party was, they could get no 
one to approach them, for treachery was still suspected. 
They laid their packages on the bank, delivered their mes- 
sage across the stream, and departed hungry and tired and 
footsore. The Makololo, finding them really gone, took | 
the bundles they had brought, placed them on an island, 
and built a roof over them; and there they were when 
Livingstone returned, some months afterward, from his 
journey to St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast, thankful 
indeed for the letters and supplies which reached him by 
this strange kind of parcel delivery. 


CXIX. Praying and Working. 2 Kincsxx.5. “J 
have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears.” 


THERE are many instances on record of special answers to 
prayer. What shall we make of the instances of prayer in 
such lives as that of David Nasmith, or of the good men 
sketched in Mr. Stevenson’s “ Praying and Working,” 
followed again and again and again by that which they 
had asked? The Rauhe Haus at Hamburg, a great 
Christian reformatory, has such a story as seems mira- 
culous—as indeed is nothing less) Money came from 
unknown sources, as it was wanted. Step by step this 
work of God was built, extended, and sustained, with no 
exchequer but the never-failing goodness of the Lord. “I 
believe,” says Wichern, its founder and head, “that what- 
ever Christian household or person trusts the Lord utterly, 
and allows Him to be the only God and Saviour, although 
it be out of great faltering and weakness, that person 
or household shall never want, but shall have all it wants, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 63 


even if it should obtain it through daily need and peril.” 
This is the experience of a life in which such prayer has 
been habitually put to the test. A case given by Major 
Miller, governor of the military prison, Aldershot—than 
whom we could surely have no safer authority—is quoted 
in Good Words. 

“One of our prisoners, on being checked at drill by one 
of the warders, wished that God Almighty would strike the 
warder dumb. The prisoner on the spot was struck dumb, 
and did not recover his speech for seven days. During 
the period he was deprived of speech he was strictly 
watched. There was no feigning whatever; the man was 
most wretched and alarmed.” 


CXX. Sun-dials. 2 Kincs xx. 11. “And Isaiah the 
prophet cried unto the Lord: and He brought the shadow ten 
degrees backward, by whith it had gone down in the dial of 
Ahaz.” 


WHOEVER is fond of travelling through the villages of old 
England will notice what innumerable fancies in various 
places have been associated with the course and flight of 
the hours. Very frequently the inscriptions on the sun- 
dials are scriptural, such as, “ Watch, for ye know not the 
hour,” or, “ Yet a little while is the light with you: walk 
while ye have the light.” There is something very sug- 
gestive in the motto upon a sun-dial over an old cottage 
at Bishopthorpe, near York, “Tempus labile,” slipping 
time. Over the porch of East Leake church, in Notting- 
hamshire, are the words, “ Now is yesterday’s to-morrow.” 
It must have been ina spirit of hopeful expectancy that 
such a motto as that famous one of Geneva was chosen, 
“Post tenebras lux,” After darkness light, or that other 
form of it, “ Post tenebras spero lucem,” After darkness I 
hope for light. 


CXXI. True Nobility. 1Curon. vi. 49. “ Moses the 
servant of God.” 
WHEN the female martyr Agatha was upbraided because, 


being descended of an illustrious parentage, she stooped 
to mean and humble offices for the relief of her fellow 


64 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


believers. “Our nobility,” she replied, “lies in this, that we 
are the servants of Christ.” “Inasmuch as ye did it unto 
one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me.” 


CXXII.. Sacred Silence. 1 Curon. xvii. 16. “And 
David the king came and sat before the Lord.” 


TIME spent in quiet prostration of soul before the Lord 
is most invigorating. David “sat before the Lord”; it is 
a great thing to hold these sacred sittings, the mind being 
receptive, like an open flower drinking in the sunbeams, or 
the sensitive photographic plate accepting the image before 
it. Quietude, which some men cannot abide, because it 
reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the 
wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in His beauty 
deigns to walk. 


Sacred silence ! thou that art 
Floodgate of the deeper heart, 
Offspring of a heavenly kind, 
Frost o’ the mouth, and thaw o’ the mind.” 


CXXIII. The Best Way to get Riches. 2 CHron. 
i. 10. ‘“ Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go 
out and come in before this people: for who can judge this Thy 
people, that ts so great?” ; 


AN old Puritan divine says “that the best and surest way 
to have any outward mercy is to be content to want it. 
When men’s desires are over-eager after the world, they 
must have thus much a year, and a house well furnished, 
and wife and children thus and thus qualified, or else they 
will not be content. God doth usually, if not constantly, 
break their wills by denying them, as one would cross a 
froward child of his stubborn humour; or else puts a sting 
into them, that a man had been as good he had been 
without them, as a man would give a thing to a froppish 
child, but it may be with a knock on his fingers and a 
frown to boot. The best way to get riches is, out of doubt, 
to set them lowest in one’s desire. Solomon found it so. 
He did not ask riches, but wisdom and ability to discharge 
his great trust ; but God was so pleased with his prayer, 
that He threw in riches into the bargain. If we seek the 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 65 


kingdom of God and His righteousness in the first place, 
and leave other things to Him, God will never be behind- 
hand with us. Let our care be to build His house, and let 
Him alone to build ours.” 


CXXIV. The Patience of Unanswered Prayer. 
2 CHRON. vi. 40. “ Wow, my God, let, I beseech Thee, Thine 
eyes. be open, and let Thine ears be atient unto the prayer that 
ts made in this place.” 


IN a biographical sketch of Miss Fletcher, an earnest 
Christian worker, the following incident is told. One 
Sabbath, at forenoon service, Miss Fletcher’s eyes and heart 
were irresistibly drawn towards an old woman, who was 
evidently pinched with care, and bowed under some load of 
anxiety. She felt that she ought to give that old woman 
some money, and mentally resolved to do so if the oppor- 
tunity presented itself at the evening service. Arrived at 
home, she found that her pocket-money consisted of one 
napoleon, and though loath to part with the whole of it, 
she felt she could neither break it nor leave it behind, but 
must take it with her to church. This she did, half hoping 
the old woman would not be among the worshippers. 
But there she was, with the mute and unconscious, but 
irresistible appeal as plainly written on her face as ever. 
On coming out of church Miss Fletcher somehow found 
herself beside her, and slipped the gold piece into the 
astonished old woman’s hand, and ran off without waiting 
for thanks. It afterwards transpired that the poor woman 
at that very time was in the greatest destitution, and had 
been rolling her case on the Lord, and had left it with 
Him in confidence, and this was His answer. 


CXXV. Seeking the Lord earnestly. 2 CxrrRon. 
xv. 15. “Zhey . . . sought Him with their whole desire ; 
and He was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest.” 


DURING a revival many years ago in Glasgow it was 

customary to hold meetings every night for prayer and 

conversation with inquirers after peace. One evening a 

Sunday-school teacher came to make known her case. 

She had been in distress for weeks. In her trouble she 

had tried to find relief by change of air and scenery, but 
EF 


66 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


soon found that this was no medicine for a soul diseased ; 
and coming back she shut herself up in a room to plead for 
mercy. Her besetting temptation was a fear lest any one 
should discover her in the act of prayer; but after shutting 
herself up to pray in silence, her feelings became so excited 
that she literally screamed, and her prayer was heard in 
the house. At length she poured out her soul in this 
pathetic strain: “O Jesus, I am told Thou art the burden- 
bearer. Here is my burden; here I lay it. I will not lift 
it; I will have nothing more to do with it: do with it what 
Thou wilt.” From that hour she rejoiced in Christ her 
Saviour. At another meeting one little girl, who had 
found peace to her own soul, was heard counselling another 
who was still in darkness, “I say, lassie, do as I did: grip 
a promise, and hold on to it.” 


CXXVI. The Widow’s Son. 2 Cnron.xx. 21. “ He 
appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the 
beauty of holiness.” 


ONE of Queen Victoria’s chaplains records the following 
story: “When I was in the island of Malta I heard a 
beautiful old legend, of about one thousand years ago, of a 
monastery on the banks of the Rhone, where it enters the 
Lake of Geneva. Into that monastery there entered a boy 
who was ‘the only son of his mother, and she was a _ 
widow.’ It was nct with her desire, but not without her 
consent; and it became her consolation, morning and 
evening, to go outside the monastery walls, and, standing 
under the windows of the chapel, hear her boy’s voice 
singing in the choir; and day by day this filled her heart 
with gladness. But one day she went, and cuuld not hear 
it ; and at last she demanded of the porter at the gate the 
reason, and was told that her boy was dead. So she 
thought ‘ My last hope in life is gone’ At length, taking 
heart, she prayed that if it were possible she might hear 
her boy’s voice singing in paradise; and the legend says 
that her prayer was granted.” 


CXXVII. Humility. 2 CHRon. xxxiv. 27. “Because 
thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God.” 


MOLINOS, the Quietist, in his book, “The Spiritual Guide,’ 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 67 


thus writes: “ Encourage thyself to be humble, embracing 
tribulations as instruments of thy good; rejoice in con- 
tempt, and desire that God may be thy holy refuge, 
comfort, and protection. None, let him be never so great 
in this world, can be greater than he that is in the eye 
and favour of God; and therefore the truly humble man 
despises whatever there is in the world, even to himself, 
and puts his trust and repose in God. 

“ The truly humble man finds God in all things, so that 
whatever contempt, injury, or affront comes to him by 
means of creatures, he receives it with great peace and 
quiet internal, as sent from the Divine hand, and greatly 
loves the instrument with which the Lord tries him.” 


CXXVIII. Social Intercourse. Ezra vi. 22. ‘The 
Lord had made them joyful.” 


Dr. ROBERT HALL, the distinguished preacher, during the 
last years of his life at Bristol was in the habit of spending 
some evenings each week in social intercourse with his 
people. On these occasions some of the members of his 
own family occasionally accompanied him ; and if it did 
not happen that the conversation was particularly lively, 
these last were apt to complain that the evening had been 
dull. To this Dr. Hall would reply: “I don’t think so. It 
was very pleasant. I enjoyedit. I enjoy everything.” 


CXXIX. Growing Love for the Word of God. 
Ezra vii. 6. “And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses; 
which the Lord God of Israel had given.” 


THE following little anecdote of Dr. Kennicott, who lived 
at the end of the last century, strikingly proves how 
much the love of the sacred volume grows with its 
perusal. During the time that he was employed on his 
Polyglot Bible it was his wife’s constant office, in their 
daily airings, to read to Dr. Kennicott those different 
portions of Scripture to which his immediate attention 
was called. When preparing for their ride, the day after 
this great work was completed, upon her asking what 
book she should zow take, “Oh!” exclaimed he, “let us 
begin the Bible.’ 


68 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CXXX. “More Light, Lord.” Ezraix. 8 “ Zha 
our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a &ittle reviving in 
our bondage.” 


PRAYER supplies a leverage for the uplifting of ponderous 
truths. One marvels how the stones of Stonehenge could 
have been set in their places; it is even more to be in- 
quired after whence some men obtained such admirable 
knowledge of mysterious doctrines: was not prayer the 
potent machinery which wrought the wonder? Waiting 
upon God often turns darkness into light. Persevering 
inquiry at the sacred oracle uplifts the veil, and gives grace 
to look into the deep things of God. A certain Puritan 
divine at a debate was observed frequently to write upon 
the paper before him; upon others curiously seeking to 
read his notes, they found nothing upon the page but the 
words, “ More light, Lord,” “ More light, Lord,” repeated 
scores of times: a most suitable prayer for the student of 
the word. 


CXXXI. Washington at Prayer. New.i6. “Ze 
Thine ear now be attentive, and Thine eyes open, that Thou 
mayest hear the prayer of Thy servant.” 


A GENTLEMAN narrates the following: 

“T received the following anecdote of Washington, about 
fifty years ago, from the farmer referred to in the narrative. 
He was a member of the Society of Friends, who, from 
their peaceable habits, were lukewarm or opposed to the 
War of Independence. While the army lay in the neigh- 
bourhood of White Plains, a farmer, whose dwelling was 
near the camp, one morning at sunrise, while passing a 
clump of brush, heard a moaning noise. Thinking his ox 
or his ass had fallen into a pit, he, on approaching the spot, 
heard the voice of a human being engaged in prayer. He 
hid in the thicket, and listened, resolved to see the speaker. 
Having finished his aspirations to heaven, this man of God 
came forth from his hiding-place. It was George Wash- 
ington, When the farmer entered his dwelling, he said to 
his wife: ‘Martha, we must not oppose this movement any 
more. This work is from the Lord. I heard the man 
George Washington send to heaven such prayers for the 
cause and the country, and I know they will be heard,’ 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 69 


Thus Washington rose with the sun and prayed for his 
country; fought for it by day, and watched for it by 
night.” 

We would add to this, that whilst a student at Princeton 
we frequently heard a similar testimony from a venerable 
old man in that vicinity. He stated that he belonged 
for several months to Washington’s bodyguard, and that 
it was his duty to stand guard from two until five o’clock 
each morning, and that it was invariably the general’s 
custom to rise at four o’clock, and read the word of God 
and kneel down and pray in an audible voice for several 
minutes, after which he commenced the business of the 
day. He stated moreover that he uniformly reprimanded 
all profane swearing in those under his authority. The 
memory of the piety of such a man should be cherished 
as a rich legacy to the nation of which he was the father. 


CXXXII. Found Off Guard. Neniv.9. “ever- 
theless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch 
against them day and night, because of them.” 


THE following illustration from Roman history is sug- 
gestive. Macherus was a fortress too impregnable to be 
taken by all the prowess of Rome. Among its defenders 
was a young man, whose strong arm had often scattered 
the assailants, and kept them back till his compatriots had 
regained their refuge after many a successful sally ; but 6n 
one occasion he dallied just outside the gate. An unseen 
foe, of great strength, who had been lying in wait for such 
an opportunity, grasped him in his arms and bore him off to 
the Roman camp. There he was first mercilessly and igno- 
miniously scourged, full in the view of those by whose side, 
but an hour before, he had been doing stern battle against 
the enemies of his country. Then a cross was brought 
forward, and preparations made to nail him to it. This 
was more than the defenders of the fortress could bear to 
witness. They inquired whether no ransom could avail to 
save their young hero’s life. No; nothing short of the 
surrender of their place of impregnable strength, in defence 
of which his and their blood had been shed together. The 
sacrifice was made, and the conditions honourably observed 
by the Romans. but what was the life-long feeling of 


7o OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 


the young Eleazar? All his patriot spirit crushed, and a 
sense of shame ever burning on his cheek that-no tears of 
repentance could ever cool. All this from one moment’s 
imprudence. Found off guard did it all. 


CXXXIII. The Bible in Iceland. Nenu. viii. 8. “So 
they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly.” 


Dr. EBENEZER HENDERSON was sent to Iceland by the 
Bible Society to distribute the Icelandic Scriptures amongst 
the inhabitants. It was found by Henderson that there 
was a famine of the word of God in the island, often only 
one copy of the Scriptures in a whole parish. 

During the course of his first and his two subsequent 
journeys, he disposed, or arranged for the disposal, by 
gratuitous distribution or by purchase, of 4,055 Bibles, and 
6,634 New Testaments, and thousands of tracts, with which 
the Icelanders might beguile their long winter evenings 
more profitably than with their national sagas and oft- 
reiterated traditional tales. The rapture with which his 
gift of a New Testament was frequently hailed may be 
gathered from such an incident as the following: 

He had sent, as was his custom, a notice round the 
neighbourhood where he travelled of the object of his 
journey. In response, a young man, amongst others, had 
been despatched by his poor and aged parents to learn 
the truth of the message they had heard. On receiving 
a Testament, it was hardly possible for him to contain his 
joy. Asanumber of the people had at the time collected 
around the door of the tent, he caused the young man to 
read the third chapter of the Gospel of John. He had 
scarcely begun when the people all sat down or knelt on 
the grass, and listened with the most devout attention, 
As he proceeded, the tears began to trickle down their 
cheeks, and they were all much affected. The scene was 
doubtless as new to them as it was to Henderson; and 
on his remarking, after the young man was done, what 
important instructions were contained in the Scripture that 
had been read, they all gave their assent, adding, with a 
sigh, that these truths were too little attended to. The 
landlady especially seemed deeply impressed with the 
truths she had heard, and remained some time after the 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 73 


others were gone, together with an aged female, who every 
now and then broke out into exclamations of praise to 
God for having sent “His clear and pure word” among 
them. “It is impossible,” adds Henderson, “for me to 
describe the pleasure I felt on this occasion. I forgot all 
the fatigues of travelling over the mountains, and indeed, 
to enjoy another such evening, I could travel twice the 
distance. I bless God for having counted me worthy to 
be employed in this ministry, to dispense His holy word 
among a people prepared by Him for its reception, and 
to whom, by the blessing of His Spirit, it shall prove of 
everlasting benefit.” 


CXXXIV. God’s Mercies to the Worst of Re- 
penting Sinners. Neu. ix. 17. “A God ready to 
pardon.” 


A story is told concerning a bold rebel that had made 
a great party against one of the Roman emperors. A 
proclamation was therefore sent abroad, that whosoever 
could bring in the rebel, dead or alive, he should have a 
great sum of money for his reward. The outlaw, hearing 
-of it, comes, and, presenting himself before the emperor, 
demands the sum of money proposed. The emperor be- 
thinks himself that if he should put him to death, the 
world would be ready to say that he did it to save his 
money ; and so he freely pardons the rebel, and gives him 
the money. Here now was light in a dark lantern, mercy 
in a very heathen. And shall such a one do thus that 
had but a drop of mercy and compassion in him, and will 
not Christ do much more that hath all fulness of grace 
and mercy in Himself? Surely His bowels yearn to the 
worst of sinners repenting; let them but come in, and 
they shall find Him ready to pardon, yea, One that is 
altogether made up of pardoning mercies. 


CXXXV. The Pithiest Grace. Neu. xii. 3x. “TZwe 
great companies of them that gave thanks.” 


LUTHER, Melanchthon, and Bugenhagen were close friends. 
One afternoon the three friends had supper with Came- 
rarius, and it occurred to Luther to ask who could furnish 


72 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


the briefest and pithiest “grace.” His own was “Dominus 
Jesus, Sit potus et esus,“ May the Lord Jesus be our drink 
and meat”; and it must have been accepted as both short 
and suggestive. Nothing can do justice to Bugenhagen’s 
but his bluff Pomeranian : Dit und Dat, Drocken und Nait, 
gesegne uns Gad, “This and that, dry or wet, bless us, 
God.” Melanchthon’s was briefest, and surely pithiest and 
profoundest of all: Benedictus benedicat, “May the blessed 
One give His blessing”; and the sententious benediction is 
still famiiiar in many a college hall 


CXXXVI. Delusiveness of Earthly Glory. 
Estu. v. 13. ‘“‘ Yet all this availeth me nothing.” 


THIS is how Wellington wrote about the great victory at 
Waterloo: “I cannot express the regret and sorrow with 
which I contemplate the heavy loss I have sustained. 
Believe me, nothing except a battle lost is so terrible as 
a battle won. The glory arising from such actions is no 
consolation to me, and I cannot suggest it has any con- 
solation to you.” 


CXXXVII. Card-playing. Jopir. “One that feared 


God, and eschewed evil.” 


THOMAS SCOTT, rector of Aston Sandford, Buckingham- 
shire, was in youth exceedingly fond of card-playing ; and 
after he became a clergyman he occasionally joined in a 
game, from an idea that too great preciseness might pre- 
judice his neighbours, and being of opinion that there was 
no harm in the practice. He says however that he felt it 
a very awkward transition to remove the card-table, and 
introduce the Bible and family worship. But his fetters 
were completely broken in the following manner. Being 
on a visit to one of his parishioners, a person to whom his 
ministry had been useful, she said to him: “I have some- 
thing which I wish to say to you, but I am afraid you will 
be offended. You know A. B.; he has lately appeared 
attentive to religion, and has spoken to me concerning the 
sacrament; but last night he, with some others, met to 
keep Christmas, and they played at cards, drank too much, 
and in the end quarrclled and raised a riot; and on 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 73 


remonstrating with him on his conduct, his answer was, 
‘There is no harm in cards; Mr. Scott plays at cards.’” 
This smote the minister to his heart, and fixed his resolu- 
tion never to play at cards again. 


CXXXVIII. ASingular Dream. Josi. 6. “Now there 
was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves 
before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” 


JOHN Huss once had a singular dream. He thought that 
the powers of evil thronged his chapel of Bethlehem to 
obliterate the pictures of Jesus upon the walls. But angels 
of light on the other side with swift hands repainted them 
in colours richer, and in more entrancing beauty. Such are 
the powers that contend in the place of our assemblies. But 
fairer, tenderer, stronger shall the influence of Jesus grow 
under angel hands. The saints witness its triumphs. The 
faithful ministry paints Emmanuel with impassioned force 
and many a loving repetition, till every stone and beam 
seem eloquent of His story, and the whole place a monu- 
ment to His incomparable name. 


CXXXIX. Resignation to God’s Will. Josi. 21. 
“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the 
name of the Lord.” 


RABBI MEIR was from home, and during his absence his 
two sons died. His wife laid them upon the bed, and 
spread a white covering over their bodies. On her hus- 
‘band’s return she thus addressed him: “ Rabbi, I would 
fain ask thee one question. A few days ago a person 
entrusted some jewels to my custody, and now he demands 
them back again; should I give himthem?” “This isa 
question,” said Rabbi Meir, “ which you should not have 
thought it necessary to ask. Wouldest thou hesitate or be 
reluctant to restore to every one his own?” “No,” she 
replied ; “but yet I thought it best not to restore them 
without acquainting you therewith.” She then led him to 
the bedside, and took off the covering from the bodies. 
“Ah! my sons, the light of mine eyes; I was your 
father, but you were my teachers.” The mother too wept 
bitterly. At length she said, “ Rabbi, we must not be 


74 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


reluctant to restore that which was entrusted to our keep- 
ing. See, the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; and 
blessed be the name of the Lord.” ‘ Blessed be the name 
of the Lord,” echoed Rabbi Meir; “and blessed be His 
name for thy sake too!” 


CXL. Resignation. Jopi. 21. “Zhe Lord gave, ana 
the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord.” — 


IN a beautiful letter of resignation, Scott, the famous com- 
mentator, thus writes of the death of his youngest boy: 

“I have to inform you that it has pleased the Lord who 
gave also to take away from us our youngest boy, your 
husband’s godson, and thereby to discharge both him and 
us from our trust. After a lingering and wasting disorder, 
he was released from this worid of sin and sorrow, and I 
doubt not gained the blessed assembly above, to unite in 
their song of praise to Him that sitteth on the throne, and 
to the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed them 
to God with His blood. He died on September 25th. 
Nature will heave the anxious sigh, but faith looks within 
the veil, beholds the happy deliverance, approves, and 
rejoices ; and I trust we both are enabled to say from our 
hearts, ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; 
blessed be the name of the Lord.’” 


CXLI. Going where All Problems will be 
Solved. Joxpyv.o9. “Which doeth great things and un- 
searchable; marvellous things without number.” 


WHEN Sir David Brewster lay on his death-bed, he was 
attended by his friend, Sir James Young Simpson, a man 
of kindred genius and of kindred Christian hopes. “The 
like of this I never saw,” Sir James Simpson said to Mr. 
Cousin after he had left the dying chamber. “There is 
Sir David resting like a little child upon Jesus, and speak- 
ing as if in a few hours he will get all his problems solved 
for him.” For in that supreme hour of dawning immor- 
tality his past studies were ail associated with the name 
and person of the Redeemer. “I shall see Jesus,” he said, 
“and that will be grand. I shall see Him who made the 
worlds,” with allusion to those wonderful verses in the 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 75 
Epistle to the Hebrews, which had formed the subject of 
the last sermon he had heard a few weeks before. Thus 
tracing all to the Creator and Redeemer, he felt no incon- 
gruity, even in these hours, in describing to Sir James 
Simpson some beautiful phenomena in his favourite science. 
Reference was made to the privilege he had enjoyed in 
throwing light upon “the great and marvellous works of 
God,” “Yes,” he said; “I found them to be great and 
marvellous, and I felt them to be His.” 


CXLII. Importunate Prayer. Jospvi.8. “Oh that / 
might have my request; and that God would grant me the 
thing that I long for!” 


THE following answers to prayer are a warning to suppli- 
ants who utter requests which they feel #zust be answered, 
without any thought as to whether it be best in God’s sight 
or not. 

A child was very ill, and his father felt that he could not 
give him up. While others watched he prayed, and with 
such insistence that he recorded, “About six o’clock my 
anxiety was in a measure relieved, and in going to the 
sick room I found that the boy had fallen into a sleep, and 
from that hour he grew better.” And yet, looking back 
after the lapse of years, it had been better and happier for 
parents and child, for others also, in later years, if the short 
life had then ended. 

Again comes the history of a similar case, and one of 
the parents recorded, “Saved in answer to importunate 
prayer.” The life was saved, but the nature seemed to be 
changed, and the boy grew to manhood a curse, a sorrow, 
and a burden to those most nearly connected with him. 
And yet he was the child of Christian parents, and was 
brought up as a Christian child, 


CXLIII. Penalty of Reading the Bible. Jos xiii 
15. “Though He slay me, yet will [ trust in Flim.” 


In his “ History of the Dutch Republic,” Mr. Motley tells 
us of one Titelmann, a blood-red persecutor of the Nether- 
lands. Upon any pretext would he put to death man, 
woman, or child. 

There was a poor schoolmaster, Geleyn de Muler, of 


76 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Oudenarde. He had been suspected of Bible reading. 
Titelmann found him and his wife and four children, and 
told him that death by fire was his fate if he did not 
recant. 

“Will you give me a trial ?” said Muler. 

“You are my prisoner, and are to answer me and none 
other,” was the reply. Some questions were asked by 
Titelmann, and then Muler was demanded to recant. He 
was for some moments speechless. 

“Do you not love your wife and children?” 

“God knows,” said the schoolmaster, “that were the 
heavens a pearl, and the earth a globe of gold, and were I 
the owner of all, most cheerfully would I give them all to 
live with my family, even though our fare be om bread 
and water.” 

It was enough. Muler was strangled, and his body 
burned. Such faith in God, how much is it needed in 
this world! 


CXLIV. Dying Words of an Unbeliever. Jos 
xiv. 14. “Jfaman die, shall he live again?” 


THE dying words of the late Harriet Martineau were: “I 
have no reason to believe in another world. I have had 
enough of life in one, and can see no good reason why 
Harriet Martineau should be perpetuated.” What gloom 
and sadness! Now listen to St. Paul: “I have fought a 
good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of 
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall 
give me at that day.” Who, in the light of such expe- 
riences, can refrain from exclaiming, “Let me die the 
death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his”? 


CXLV. The Tomb Forgets No One. Jos xvi. 22. 
“When a few years are come, then 1 shall go the way whence 1 
shall not return,” 


VICTOR HUvuGO, when in the depth of severe affliction—the 
loss of his two sons—wrote the following lines: 

“Patience. They have but gone before. It is just that 
the evening should come for us all. It is just that all 
should go up, one after the other, to receive their pay 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 77 


The exempts are such only in appearance. The tomb 
forgets no one.” 


CXLVI. True Wisdom. Jos xxviii. 28. “Behold, the 
fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; and to depart from evil is 
understanding.” 


WE are told in history how Edmund Rich, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, found his love of learning at Oxford bringing 
its troubles. “His Old Testament frowned down upon 
a love of secular learning, from which Edmund found it 
hard to wean himself.” At last in a dream the form of 
his dead mother floated into the room where the teacher 
stood amidst his mathematical diagrams, “What are 
these ?” she seemed to say; and seizing Edmund’s right 
hand, she drew on the palm three circles interlaced, each 
of which bore the name of one of the Persons of the holy 
Trinity. “Be these thy diagrams henceforth, my son,” she 
cried ; and her figure faded away. And so Edmund Rich 
learned to put first things first. 


CXLVII. Conscience a Gnawing Worm. Jos 
xxxiv. 18. “Js it jit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and 
to princes, Ye are ungodly?” 


HuGH LATIMER was very outspoken to King Henry VIIL, 
feeling that he must tell him his duty. “You that be 
of the court, and especially ye sworn chaplains,” he said 
long afterwards, “beware of a lesson that a great man 
taught me at my first coming to court. He told me for 
good will; he thought it well. He said to me,‘ You must 
beware, howsoever ye do, that ye contrary not the king ; 
let him have his sayings; follow him; go with him.’ 
Marry ! out upon such counsel! Shall I say as he says? 
Say your conscience, or else what a worm shall ye feel enaw- 
wing! What a remorse of conscience shall ye have when ye 
remember how ye have slacked your duty! Yet a prince 
must be turned not violently, he must be won by a little 
and a little. He must have his duty told him, but with 
humbleness, with request of pardon, or else it were a 
dangerous thing.” 


78 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CXLVIII. Dr. Rylandand his Hymn. Jos xxxv. 10, 
“ Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?” 


Dr. RYLAND was the author of that beautiful hymn, which 
he wrote under singular circumstances : 


“O Lord, I would delight in Thee, 
And on Thy care depend ; 
To Thee in every trouble flee, 
My best, my only Friend.” 


He was at Bristol Academy, engaged to be married to a 
young lady whom he fondly loved. She was taken with 
a dangerous sickness, from which it was feared she would 
not recover. Filled with anguish, he called to inquire 
about her, and was told by the servant if he would call in 
half an hour he would hear the opinion of the doctors, 
who were then holding a consultation on the case. He 
retired to an empty house, then under repair, sat down on 
a large stone, and taking a piece of slate wrote thereon 
that beautiful hymn, which has been the comfort of thou- 
sands of the tried children of God: 


“ When all created streams are dried, 
Thy fulness is the same: 
May I with this be satisfied, 
And glory in Thy name ! 


“No good in creatures can be found 
But may be found in Thee ; 
I must have all things, and abound, 
While God is God to me.” 


He called, and received a favourable report. The lady 
recovered, they were married, and lived most happily toge- 
ther for seven years, when she was removed by death. 
Thus out of trial came a song, even as out of the lion came 
honey. 


CXLIX. The Captive Set Free. Jos xxxix. 27. “Doth 
the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on 
high?” 

MANY years had a noble eagle been confined in such a 


manner that no one had seen it even attempt to raise a 
wing. Perfectly subdued, unconscious now of its native 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. ra 


power, it remained imactive and apparently contented. 
Bat its owner was about to leave for 2 far country, mever 
to return. He could not take the eagle with hm “I will 
do one act of kindness before I go,” said he, amd unloosed 
children looked on, with regret that they should see the 
eagle no more. A moment, and it would be gone for ever! 
But no; the bird walked the usual round, which had beem 
the length of his chaim, unconscious that he was free. The 
gazers looked om im wonder and im pity. The slow rustling 
of a wing was heard. It was stretched, and them foldex. 
Anon it was stretched to its full expansion, and them folded 
softly again. Now,slowly amd cautiously, the eagle <x- 
pands both wings, and looks up into the blue sky. One 
effort to mount, them another, and the wings have found 
their lost slall ; and upward, higher, and speedier he mounts 
his way, until lost to view. 

Hast thou, O child of God, beem pimioned long to the 
cares and toils of earth, so that thy wings of faith and love 
have lost all power to rise? Once thow couldst soar, ad 
thow mayest soar agaim. His “grace is sufficient for thee” 


' CL. The Wheat and the Chafi. Pig “Te 
ungodly are not sa; Gut are ke the chaff whi the mind 
ariveth amay.” 


“WHat is m yonder vessel?” I mouire of 2 passmg 
stranger. “Chaff,” he replies, toning a hasty giance m 
the directiom to which I poimt, and passesom His answer 
is all that yow could expect him to give, and yet i i= 
mot correct. The vessel was filled with wheat amd chaff, 
umcled together as they were thrashed from the sheaf ; 
but it has beem shaken from side to side for some time, 
and the wheat has all sunk to the bottom, while the chaff 
has all risen to the top Im like manmer many real, thouch 
not perfect Christians, are set dowm as hypocrites by care- 
less observers, because the things of the Spixit gravitate 
downward, lie unseen, while the wanities that perish mm the 
using occupy almost all the visible surface of the life 
That which is Christiike im Christians should mot be 
small, but larce and full-crown ; should not smk cut of 
sight, but stand forth visibie to all 


80 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CLI. Colour-blind. Ps. iv.6. “ Who will show us 
any good?” 


THERE is an optical peculiarity called Daltonism or colour- 
blindness. It is so common that nearly one in twenty have 
it. It consists in an inability to distinguish colours. Green 
is confounded with red. Those who suffer from this defect 
are unable, so far as the colour is concerned, to distinguish 
the petals of a rose from its leaves, or the blossom of the 
scarlet poppy from the unripe corn among which it is grow- 
ing. The beautiful hues of sunset are a delusion to them; 
the faces of their friends wear a strange complexion ; and 
the fair aspects of nature appear quite different from what 
they are to others. And yet the eye of the colour-blind 
seems the same as an ordinary eye. Its structure and 
appearance look precisely similar. The peculiarity is 
almost unknown or unrecognised by those who have it; 
and being ignorant of its existence themselves, they cannot 
easily be persuaded to believe it. And so are there not 
many coming to the Lord’s house as His people come, 
worshipping the Lord as His people worship, making the 
same profession of religion, and walking in the same ways, 
presenting no apparent difference between themselves and 
true Christians, and yet who are colour-blind spiritually ? 
The whole economy of redemption, the entire scheme of 
grace, is to them altogether different from what it is to 
those who know the power of godliness. The things that 
are spiritually discerned are to them uninteresting and in- 
comprehensible. The colours of the heavenly landscape 
are confounded by them, and appear of one uniform dull 
hue. Christ Himself, who is the chiefest among ten thou- 
sand and altogether lovely, has no form or comeliness to 
them that they should desire Him. While the believer 
utters his rapturous song, “ My Beloved is white and ruddy,” 
they say, “What is thy Beloved more than another be- 
loved?” They cannot see the beauties and glories of the 
world unseen ; and in the very midst of them are crying 
sut, ‘Who will show us any good ?” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 81 


CLII. Praying for What we Do not Expect. 
Ps. v. 3. “dLy voice shalt Thou hear in the morning, O 
Lord ; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and 
will look up.” 


“TI WAS once,” narrates Daniel Quorm, “staying with a 
gentleman who was a very religious kind of man; and in 
the morning he began the day with a long family prayer, 
that we might have a Christ-like spirit, and the mind that 
was also in Christ Jesus, and that we might have the love 
of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost 
given to us. A beautiful prayer it was, and I thought, 
What a good, kind man you must be! But about an hour 
after, I happened to be coming along the farm, and I heard 
him hallooing and scolding and going on, finding fault 
with everything. And when I came in the house with him 
he began again. Nothing was right, and he was, I found, 
very impatient and quick-tempered. ‘’Tis very provoking 
to be annoyed in this way, Daniel. I don’t know what 
servants in these times be good for but to worry and vex 
one with their idle, slovenly ways.’ I did not reply for a 
minute or two. And then I said, ‘You must be very 
much disappointed, sir.’ ‘ How so, Daniel? Disappointed?’ 
‘I thought you were expecting to receive a very valuable 
present this morning, and I see it has not come.’ ‘Present, 
Daniel?’ and he scratched his head, as much as to say, 
‘Whatever can the man be talking about?’ ‘I certainly 
heard you speaking of it, sir,’ I said quite coolly. ‘Heard 
me speak of a valuable present! Why, Daniel, you must 
be dreaming. I’ve never thought of sucha thing.’ ‘ Per- 
haps not, but you’ve talked about it ; and I hoped it would 
come whilst I was here, for I should dearly love to see it.’ 
He was getting angry with me now, so I thought I would 
explain. ‘You know, sir, this morning you prayed for a 
Christ-like spirit, and the mind that was in Jesus, and the 
love of God shed abroad in your heart.’ ‘Oh! that’s what 
you mean, is it?’ and he spoke as if that weren’t anything 
at all. ‘Now, sir, wouldn't you be rather surprised if your 
prayer was to be answered, if you were to feel a nice, 
gentle, loving kind of spirit coming down upon you, all 
patient and forgiving and kind? Why, I believe you 
would become quite frightened; and you’d come in and 
G 


82 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


sit down in a faint, and imagine that you must be going 
to die, because you felt so heavenly-minded?’ He did not 
like it very much, but I delivered my testimony, and learned 
a lesson for myself too. We should stare very often if the 
Lord were to answer our prayer.” 


CLIII. A Christian Philosopher. Ps.v.12. “ For 
Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous ; with favour wilt Thou 
compass him as with a shield.” 


FARADAY stands out prominently as a Christian as well as 
a philosopher. Concerning his standing in science there is 
no dispute. He takes rank among the first of his con- 
temporaries. Universities and learned societies were eager 
to do him honour. 

His religious character appears to have been developed 
from a very early period. “When an errand-boy, we 
find him hurrying the delivery of his newspapers on a 
Sunday morning, so as to get home in time to make 
himself neat, to go with his parents to chapel ; his letters, 
when abroad, indicate the same disposition; yet he did 
not make any formal profession of his faith till a month 
after his marriage, when nearly thirty years of age. Of 
his spiritual history up to that period little is known, but 
there seem to be grounds for believing that he did not 
accept the religion of his fathers without a conscientious 
inquiry into its truth. It would be difficult to conceive of 
his acting otherwise. But after he joined the Sandemanian 
Church, his questionings were probably confined to matters 
of practical duty ; and to those who know him best, nothing 
could appear stronger than his conviction of the reality of 
the things he believed. In order to understand the life 
and character of Faraday, it is necessary to bear in mind 
that he was a Christian, but that he was a Sandemanian. 
From his earliest years that religious system stamped its 
impress deeply on his mind ; it surrounded the blacksmith’s 
son with an atmosphere of unusual purity and refinement ; 
it developed the usefulness of his nature, and in his after 
career it fenced his life from the worldliness around, as 
well as from much that is esteemed as good by other 
Christian bodies. But his sympathies burst all narrow 
bounds. Thus the Abbé Moigno tells us that, at Fara- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 83 


day’s request, he one day introduced him to Cardinal 
Wiseman. The interview was very cordial, and his eminence 
did not hesitate frankly and good-naturedly to ask Faraday 
if, in his deepest conviction, he believed all the Church of 
Christ—holy, catholic, and apostolical—was shut up in the 
little sect in which he bore rule. ‘Oh, no, was the reply; 
‘but I do believe, from the bottom of my soul, that Christ 
is with us!’” 


CLIV. God’s Anger Consistent with His Love. 
Ps. vil. 11. “ God is angry with the wicked every day.” 


THEON was one day reading in the Holy Scriptures when 
he suddenly closed the book, and looked thoughtful and 
gloomy. 

Hillel perceived this, and said to the youth: “ What 
aileth thee? Why is thy countenance troubled ?” 

Theon answered : “In some places the Scriptures speak 
of the wrath of God, and in others He is called Love. 
This appears to me strange and inconsistent.” 

The teacher caimly replied . “Should they not speak to 
man in human language? Is it not equally strange that 
they should attribute a human form to the Most High ?” 

“ By no means,” answered the youth; “that is figurative, 
but wrath - 

Hillel interrupted him, and said: “ Listen to my story. 
There lived in Alexandria two fathers, wealthy merchants, 
who had two sons of the same age, and they sent them to 
Ephesus on business connected with their traffic. Both 
these young men had been thoroughly instructed in the 
religion of their fathers. 

“When they had sojourned for some time at Ephesus, 
they were dazzled by the splendour and treasures of the 
city, and, yielding to the allurements which beset them, 
they forsook the path of their fathers, and turned aside to 
idolatry, and worshipped in the temple of Diana. 

“A friend at Ephesus wrote of this to Cleon, one of the 
two fathers at Alexandria. When Cleon had read the 
letter, he was troubled in his heart, and he was wroth with 
the youths. Thereupon he went to the other father, and 
told him of the apostasy of their sons, and of his grief 
thereat. 


84 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


“But the other father laughed, and said, ‘If business do 
but prosper with my son, I shall give myself little concern 
about his religion.’ 

“Then Cleon turned from him, and was still more wroth. 

“Now, which of these two fathers,” said Hillel to the 
youth, “dost thou consider as the wiser and the better ?” 

“ He who was wroth,” answered Theon. 

“And which,” asked the preceptor, “was the kinder 
father?” 

“He who was wroth,” again answered the youth, 

“Was Cleon wroth with his son?” asked Hillel. 

And Theon replied, “Not with his son, but with his 
backsliding and apostasy.” 

“And what,” asked the teacher, “thinkest thou is the 
cause of such displeasure against evil ?” 

“The sacred love of truth,” answered his disciple. 

“ Behold then, my son,” said the old man, “if thou canst 
now think divinely of that which is Divine, the human 
expression will no longer offend thee.” 


CLV. Daniel Webster’s Knowledge of the 
Bible. Ps. viii. 1. “O Lord our Lord, how excellent 
is Zhy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above 
the heavens.” 


THOUGH Webster’s fame rests chiefly upon his oratorical 
powers, he was remarkable, too, for his familiarity with the 
Bible. In fact, his colleagues once nicknamed him, the 
Bible Concordance of the United States Senate. 

While a mere lad, he read with such power and expres- 
sion that the passing teamsters, who stopped to water their 
horses, used to get ‘‘ Webster’s boy” to come out beneath 
the shade of the trees and read the Bible tothem. Those 
who heard Mr. Webster, in later life, recite passages from 
the Hebrew prophets and Psalms, say that he held them 
spellbound, while each passage, even the most familiar, came 
home to them in a new meaning. One gentleman says 
that he never received such ideas of the majesty of God 
and the dignity of man as he did one clear night when Mr, 
Webster, standing in the open air, recited the eighth 
Psalm. 

Webster’s mother observed another old fashion of New 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 85 


England in training her son. She encouraged him to me- 
morize such Scriptural passages as impressed him. The 
boy’s retentive memory, and his sensitiveness to Bible 
metaphors and to the rhythm of the English version, stored 
his mind with Scripture. On one occasion the teacher 
of the district school offered a jack-knife to the boy who 
should recite the greatest number of verses from the Bible. 
When Websters turn came, he arose and reeled off so 
many verses that the master was forced to say, “ Enough.” 
It was the mother’s training and the boy’s delight in the 
idioms and music of King James’s version that made him 
the “ Biblical Concordance of the Senate.” 

But these two factors made him more than a “ concord- 
ance.” The Hebrew prophets inspired him to eloquent 
utterances. He listened to them, until their vocabulary 
and idioms, as expressed in King James’s translations, 
became his mother-tongue. Of his lofty utterances it may 
be said, as Wordsworth said of Milton’s poetry, they are 
“Hebrew in soul.” Therefore they project themselves into 
the future. 

The young man who would be a writer that shall be 
read, or an orator whom people w// hear, should study the 
English Bible. Its singular beauty and great power as 
literature, the thousand sentiments and associations which 
use has attached to it, have made it a mightier force than 
any other book. 


CLVI. An Infidel and a Little Girl who was 
Sorry for Him. Ps. vill. 2. “Out of the mouth ¢f 
babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, because of 
Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the 
avenger.” 


THE celebrated Hume was dining at the house of an 
intimate friend. After dinner the ladies withdrew ; and in 
the course of conversation, Mr. Hume made some asser- 
tion, which caused a gentleman present to observe to him, 
“If you can advance such sentiments as these, you cer- 
tainly are what the world gives you credit for being, an 
infidel.” <A little girl, whom the philosopher had often 
noticed, and with whom he had become a favourite, by 
bringing her little presents of toys and sweetmeats, hap- 


86 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


pened to be playing about the room unnoticed. She 
however listened to the conversation, and on hearing the 
above expression, left the room, went to her mother, and 
asked her, “Mamma, what is an infidel?” “ An infidel, 
my dear!” replied her mother; “ why should you ask such 
a question? An infidel is so awful a character that I 
scarcely know how to answer you.” “Oh! tell me, 
mamma,” returned the child; “I must know what an 
infidel is.” Struck with her eagerness, her mother at 
length replied, “ An infidel is one who believes that there 
is no God, no heaven, no hell, no hereafter.” Some days 
afterwards Hume again visited the house of his friend. 
On being introduced into the parlour, he found no one 
there but his favourite little girl; he went to her and 
attempted to take her up in his arms, and kiss her as he 
had been used to do; but the child shrank with horror 
from his touch. “ My dear,” said he, “ what is the matter? 
do I hurt you?” “No,” she replied; “you do not hurt 
me; but I cannot kiss you, I cannot play with you.” 
“Why not, my dear?” “Because you are an infidel.” 
“An infidel! what is that?” “One who believes there is 
no God, no heaven, no hell, no hereafter.” “And are you 
not very sorry for me, my dear?” asked the philosopher. 
“Yes, indeed, I am sorry!” returned the child with 
solemnity ; “and I pray to God for you.” “Do you, 
indeed ? and what do you say?” “I say, O God, teach 
this man that Thou art” A striking illustration of the 
above text. 


CLVII. Not Christianized, but Humanized. 
Ps. x. “ The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.” 


I SAID last year to an old saint of ninety years, “Is the 
world better or worse than when you knew it first?” The 
old man turned thoughtfully to me, and said, “I will not 
say that, so far as I know it, it has been Christianized ; but 
I do say that tt has been humanized.’ Brutal sports trained 
men to count the defenceless as their prey, and made the 
sight of suffering too familiar a thing to be noticed. Here 
is a bit of testimony that I have met with from old people 
in many forms,and which will find its counterpart in Simon’s 
story. A farmer who had hired a little lad began striking 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 87 


him before they were out of the “Church-town.” The 
poor mother came up and pleaded for her son: “O sir, 
how would you like to see your little ones served like 
that?” The man, with an oath, bade her be gone, saying, 
“ Thy child is made o’ cuse (coarse) clay ; but mine is made 
of fine.” Was not some such sentiment as that general 
concerning the poor in the early part of the century? One 
has even met with it lingering still in more modern dress. 
To-day, to be poor isa suspicion, almost a crime, with some 
few people. 


CLVIII. Is there no God? Ps. xiv. 1. “ Zhe fool 
hath said in his heart, There ts no God.” 


Miss MARTINEAU tells, in her Autobiography, that it was 
an unspeakable relief to her to arrive at the conclusion that 
there is no God. She went out of her house afterwards, 
she says, and looked up at the stars with a new sensation. 
And all the worries of life became less irritating to her on her 
being assured that she had no one to be ultimately respon- 
sible to but herself. On the other hand, it would certainly 
be to make for many this world a waste and howling 
wilderness, to deprive them of the comfort of believing that 
a Supreme Mind and Hand have been directing it through 
the ages. 


CLIX. A Merchant Prince. Ps. xv. 4. “He that 
sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” 


IT has been well said that he who gives to charity only on 
his death-bed may be said to be “rather liberal with that 
which is another man’s, than of his own, and gives his 
wealth to the strong robber, Death, in no other sense than 
the traveller yields his purse to the highwayman.” Samuel 
Fletcher, of Manchester, one of the merchant princes of 
that city, was one of those men whose delight it is to be 
their own almoners. He commenced business for himself 
in 1811, and in a few years, by constant honesty, perseve- 
rance, and self-denial, took his place among the foremost 
merchants of that great mercantile centre. A striking 
example of his integrity in business matters is given in the 
following :—An event of European interest (the battle of 
Leipsic) caused a revolution in the Manchester market, and 


88 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


suddenly and enormously enhanced the value of a certain 
class of goods, of which Mr. Fletcher had a quantity in 
stock, but which he had virtually promised to a customer 
at a lower price, before the news arrived of the battle. An 
enterprising speculator came in and offered to take the 
entire stock at the advanced prices, and even to advance 
on these. Mr. Fletcher told him that the goods were not 
his to sell. It was in vain that the usual casuistry of 
interest was used to shake the plain ethics of truth and 
honesty ; it was in vain to urge that the bargain had not 
been formally ratified, etc. Mr. Fletcher contented himself 
with saying that, however vexatious the loss, he had really, 
if not formally, agreed to part with the goods at the price 
stipulated, and that “a just man, even though he swears to 
his own hurt, changeth not.” 


CLX. The Christian’s Portion. Ps. xvi. 5. “ Zhe 
Lord ts the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup.” 


EXCELLENT was the answer of Basil the Great to the 
Emperor Valens, who first essayed him with large proffers 
of honour and riches to draw him from Christ: “ Offer 
these things to children—I regard them not.” Then after 
threatening he replied: ‘‘ He who has but a few books and 
a wretched garment can suffer nothing from confiscation: 
banishment is nothing to one to whom all places are alike, 
and torture cannot be inflicted where there is not a body 
to bear it. Put me to death, and you do mea favour, for 
you send me earlier to my rest.” 


CLXI. It has been tried. Ps. xviii. 30. “ Zhe wera 
of the Lord is tried.” 


BUILDING a bridge across the Niagara River, below the 
Falls, was once thought to be impossible. The banks are 
steep and high, the distance across nearly an eighth of a 
mile, and the river here boils and foams so that no boat 
can stand the fury of the torrent a moment. Sending piles 
and building arches, as with other bridges, was quite out 
of the question. Yet a bridge was built—a wire suspension 
bridge, so called because it had to be hung by cables driven 
into huge blocks of granite on each bank, The cables 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 89 


were made of twisted wire. The bridge looked like a 
spider’s thread. 

But would the cables hold? That had to be tried. How 
frightened the spectators were when the engineer drove the 
first carriage across! A terrible plunge would that be into 
the raging waters, two hundred and fifty feet underneath. 
But the bridge stood the trial. Then gales and storms 
tried it, and it stood. “I am afraid to trust it, it looks so 
slender,” said one of a party, shrinking back, when visiting 
the Falls a year afterward. “It has been tried,” said the 
guide ; “there is no danger,” and we crossed safely. The 
Bible tells us of something that is tried. “The word of 
the Lord is tried.” Its declarations and promises are tried, 
and its threatenings also are to be relied on. 


CLXII. God seen in His Works. Ps. xix. 1. “ The 
heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth 
His handywork.” 


AN Arab, a wild son of the desert, one more accustomed 
to fight than to reason, to plunder a caravan than to argue 
a cause, was asked by a traveller how he knew that there 
was a Deity? He fixed his dark eyes with a stare of 
savage wonder on the man who seemed to doubt the being 
of God ; and then (as he was wont, when he encountered a 
foe, to answer spear by spear), he met the question by 
another: “How do I know whether it was a man ora 
camel which passed by my tent last night?” Well spoken, 
child of the desert! for not more plainly do the footprints 
in the sand reveal to thy eye whether it was a manora 
camel that passed thy tent in the darkness of the night, 
than God’s works reveal His power and being. 


CLXIII. A Martyr’s Legacy to his Children. 
Ps. xix. 10. “ More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than 
much fine gold.’ 


JOHN PENRY, the Welsh martyr, was executed at St. 
Thomas-a-Watering, Surrey, as secretly as it could be 
done, for fear of a popular tumult. He died in the thirty- 
fourth year of his age, leaving a widow and four daughters, 
and a great host of Christians to deplore his untimely end. 
He had never meddled with politics. His sole offences 


go OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


were his exposures of the glaring abuses of the episcopal 
clergy in Wales, whereby souls of his countrymen were 
ruined, and his open confession of Nonconformity towards 
the close of his life. In a letter written a few days before 
his death, he thus counsels his children: “ Although you 
should be brought up in never so hard service, yet, my dear 
children, learn to read, that you may be conversant day 
and night in the Word of the Lord. If your mother be 
able to keep you together, I doubt not that you shall learn 
both to write and read by her means. I have left you four 
Bibles, each of you one, being the sole and only patrimony 
or dowry that I have for you. I beseech you and charge 
you not only to keep them, but to read in them day and 
night ; and before you read, and also in and after reading, 
be earnest in prayer and meditation, that you may under- 
stand and perform the good way of your God.” 


CLXIV. The “Speaking Leaves.” Ps. xix) xe 
“ More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than mush fine 
gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” 


ABOUT thirty years ago the people in the South Sea 
Islands had never seen a book, nor did they know that 
there was any way of getting or giving knowledge but by 
speech. Now they know the value of “speaking leaves,” 
as they call tracts and books. Such is their desire for 
them that they will travel ten miles in a small canoe, in the 
open sea, to obtain a single copy, for which they offer fruit 
and native cloth. Many have come thirty or forty miles 
on land, carrying a burden all the way, that they might 
buy a book. One of these natives fenced off a plot of 
ground, planted it with arrow-root, and waited till it was 
ripe. He then prepared it for use, and getting with it into 
his canoe, spread its sail to the wind, and steered for a 
missionary station. After sailing for some miles, a sudden 
gust of wind filled the little sail, and upset the canoe. The 
poor fellow soon got his canoe right again, and himself 
safe in it, but the arrow-root had gone to the bottom of 
the sea. He turned his canoe round towards home, which 
he teached with a sad heart. But as soon as he got there, 
he planted a fresh plot of arrow-root, and waited until it 
was ready; then he set out once more, sailed again over 
the open sea, reached the station, and bought a book 


ne 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 9! 


The next day he was on his return, full of joy that he had 
got what he had so long wished to possess. 


CLXV. Happiness of doing Good. Ps. xix. 11. 
“ In keeping of them there ts great reward.” 


As Henry Martyn was on his way to India, he was watch- 
ful, day and night, for opportunities of doing good to those 
on board the ship i in which he sailed. He was especially 
attentive to the sick. One day, when the hatches were 
shut down in consequence of a gale, he went below to visit 
a sick sailor. As there was perfect darkness below, he was 
obliged to feel his way. He found the man swinging in 
his hammock, in darkness, and heat, and damp, without a 
creature to speak to him, and in a burning fever. “I gave 
him,” says Martyn, “a few grapes which had been given to 
me, to allay his thirst. How great the pleasure of doing 
good, even to the bodies of men!” 

Martyn had large experience of the pleasure of doing 
good. His efforts to do good were unceasing, and they 
were made at the expense of self-sacrifice. They were thus 
of a kind to yield him the largest amount of pleasure. 

Have you had experience of the pleasure of doing 
good? especially of doing good to the souls of men? 

There is no pleasure like it. He who labours in simplicity 
and in godly sincerity to do good, has his reward in a calm 
and enduring pleasure which no earthly prosperity, no 
wealth, nor honours can bestow. 

How many seek for happiness from afar, when it can be 
had in its purest form by doing good to their neighbours! 
To do good and communicate forget not, if you would be 
happy, if you would enjoy the Saviour’s smile. 

The manner in which Mr. Martyn became possessed of 
the grapes which he gave’ to the sick man is interesting 
and instructive. 

The ship, after touching at the Cape of Good Hope, 
sailed thence on the Sabbath. On that day a boat came 
alongside with fruit ; “ but,” says Martyn, “I did not think 
it right to buy any, though I longed to have some to carry 
to sea.” On the day on which he visited the sick man, a 
passenger who came on board at the Cape, and to whom 
he had scarcely ever spoken, sent him a plate of fruit, by 


92 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


which he was greatly refreshed, and enabled to relieve the 
sick man. 

It is somewhat remarkable, that this seasonable present 
came on the very day on which Martyn entered in his 
common-place book the following sentiment, taken from an 
author he was reading: “If, from regard to God’s Sabbath, 
I deny myself, He will more than make it up tome.” In 
keeping God’s statutes there is great reward.” 


CLXVI. Wild Faith. Ps. xix. 13. “ Keep back Thy ser- 


vant also from presumptuous sins.” 


JOHN BUNYAN says, in one of his many books, “ Faith must 
be always in exercise. Only put not in the place thereof 
presumption. I have observed that as there are herbs and 
flowers in our gardens, so there are counterfeits in the field : 
only they are distinguished from the others by the name 
of wild ones. Why, there is faith, and wild faith : and wild 
faith is this presumption. I call it wild faith, because God 
never placed it in His garden—His Church: ’tis only to be 
found in His field—the world. I also call it wild faith, 
because it only grows up and is nourished where other wild 
notions abound.” 


CLXVII. The Traveller’s Tree. Ps. xxiii 5. “Zhou 


preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies.” 


Mr. ELLIs describes this wonderful tree, which grows in 
Madagascar, and is so called from its always containing, 
in the most arid season,a large quantity of pure fresh 
water, supplying to the traveller the place of wells in the 
desert. Being somewhat sceptical as to the truth of what 
he had heard, Mr. Ellis determined to see for himself. 
Coming to a clump of the trees, one of his bearers struck 
one of them with his spear, four or five inches deep, into 
the thick, firm end of the stalk of the leaf, and on drawing 
it back, a stream of pure clear water gushed out, about a 
quart of which was caught, and all drank of it on the spot. 
It was‘cool, clear, and perfectly sweet. Such a tree, so 
valuable to the thirsty traveller, forms no bad emblem of 
the ordinances of grace, prepared for the Lord’s people in 
the wilderness of this world, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 93 


CLAVIII. Communion Sunday. Psatm. xxiv. 7. 
“ Lift up your heads, O ye gates.” 


THE father of the celebrated Principal Carstares was a 
man of warm devotional character, and suffered severely in 
the persecution time. Wodrow (Anxalectzc) tells of him: 
“ He was doing duty at the sacrament for a brother minis- 
ter at Calder. Upon the Sabbath he was very wonderfully 
assisted in his first prayer, and had a strange gale through 
all the sermon, and there was a remarkable emotion among 
the hearers. Singing the 24th Psalm (see vers. 7-10), as 
he came to the tables, all in the assembly were marvel- 
lously affected, and glory seemed to fill that house. He 
served the first table in a kind of rapture, and he called 
some ministers there to the next, but he was in sucha 
frame that none of them would come and take the work 
off his hands. He continued at the work with the greatest 
enlargement, and melting upon himself and all present, 
that could be, and served fourteen or sixteen tables. A 
Christian that had been at the table and obliged to come 
out of the church, pressing to be in again, stood without 
the door and said he was rapt in the thought of the glory 
that was in that house for near half an hour, and got leave 
scarce to think upon any other thing.” 

It seems to have beena movement similiar to that which 
took place at Kirk of Shotts under John Livingstone, and 
is evidence of the great wave of religious feeling which was 
then sweeping over Scotland, the tide-mark of which we 
can best see in Rutherford’s “ Letters.” 


CLXIX. The Wigtown Martyrs. Ps. xxv. 7. “&e- 
member not the sins of my youth.” 


“My sins and faults of youth 
Do Thou, O Lord, forget ; 
After Thy mercy think on me, 
And for Thy goodness great,” 


was the beginning of the song of Margaret Wilson as the 
sea was rising round her at the mouth of the water of 
Blednoch by Wigtown. She was twenty years of age, 
and along with an elderly woman, Margaret Lachlan, was 
condemned to be drowned for attending field and house 


94 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


conventicles, and for refusing the test. They were tied to 
stakes within tide-mark where the waters of the Solway 
come up swift and strong. The old woman was put farther 
in that the sight of her struggles might terrify the younger 
and lead her to conform, but she was faithful to the 
death, 
“O do Thou keep my soul ; 
Do Thou deliver me ; 


And let me never be ashamed 
Because I trust in Thee.” 


Desperate efforts have been made to cast discredit on 
the narratives in Napier’s “ Life of Claverhouse,” and it has 
been made a test case along with the death of John Brown 
of Priesthill. The question has been set at rest by the 
book of Dr. Stewart of Glasserton. The two women are 
buried in Wigtown churchyard, and descendants of the 
family to which Margaret Wilson belonged are to be 
found in the neighbourhood of Glenvernock where she 
lived. 


CLXX. A Song of Thanksgiving. Ps. xxvi. 8. 
“ Tord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house.” 


PINETON of Chambrun, one of the French Huguenots, 
who after fleeing by night and hiding in woods by day, 
escaped at length from France in the time of the dvagon- 
nades of Louis XIV., tells that, when he and his com- 
panions came in sight of Geneva, they burst into tears and 
sung for thanksgiving from ver. 8 of this Psalm to the 
end. “ Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and 
the place where Thine honour dwelleth. . . . My foot 
standeth in an even place; in the congregations will I 
bless the Lord.” 


CLXXI. A Psalm of Comfort. Ps. xxvii. 1-14. 
“ The Lord ts my light,” ete. 


WHEN India was still heaving with the groundswell of the 
terrible mutiny of 1857, the wife of Sir John Lawrence was 
called home to her children in England, and had to leave 
her husband worn out with the anxiety and labour which 
did so much for the preservation of the Indian Empire, 
unable to leave his post and surrounded by smouldering 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 93 


embers which might at any moment break out again into 
flame. She writes: “ When the last morning—January 6, 
185$8—arrived, we had our usual Bible reading, and I can 
never think of the 27th Psalm, which was the portion we 
then read together, without recalling that sad time.” In 
perusing the Psalm one can see what springs of comfort 
must have opened in every verse from the beginning, “ The 
Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” 
to the close, “ Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, 
and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the 
Lord.” 


CLXXII. A Message from Heaven. Ps. xxvii. 6. 
“And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies 
round about me.” 


A BOY was brought to Christ when at a public school. It 
became known among his school-fellows, and one day, 
when he entered the play-ground, he found them drawn up 
in a body to meet him; and as soon as they had him in 
their midst, they assailed him with laughter and cries of 
contempt. He was taken completely by surprise ; his face 
burned with shame and anger, and the ground seemed to 
be reeling beneath his feet. It was a Monday morning, 
and the first exercise, after they had entered the school, 
was to repeat some verses of a psalm. A pupil was called 
up to repeat them, and as the poor young Christian sat 
bewildered among his persecutors, the first words which fell 
on his ears were,— 
“ And now even at this present time, 
Mine head shall lifted be, 


Above all those that are my foes, 
And round encompass me.” 


They seemed to be sent straight from heaven to him. 
They completely drove away his agitation, and made him 
calm and happy. He knew it was his Father saying to 
him, “ Be strong, and of a good courage;” and sorely did 
he need this encouragement in his hour of confession. 


CLXXITI. Lapse of Memory. Ps. xxx. 5. “ Weep- 
ing may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” 


Dr. LIEFCHILD relates the following anecdote regarding 


96 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


this text :—“One Sabbath morning a singular lapse of 
memory befel me, which I had never before and have never 
since experienced. When I rose from sleep, I could not 
recollect any portion of the discourse which I had prepared 
on the day before, and what was most strange, I could not 
even remember the text of the prepared sermon. I was 
perplexed, and walked out before breakfast in Kensington 
Gardens. While there, a particular text occurred to my 
mind ; and my thoughts seemed to dwell upon it so much, 
that I resolved tc preach from that, without further attempt- 
ing to recall what I had prepared—a thing which I had 
never ventured to do during all my ministry. 

“From this text I preached, and it was, ‘ Weeping may 
endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’ I 
preached with great liberty, and in the course of the sermon 
I quoted the lines,— 


‘ Beware of desperate steps ! the darkest day— 
Live till to-morrow—will have passed away,’ 


“T afterwards learned that a man in despair had that 
very morning gone to the Serpentine to drown himself in 
it. For this purpose he had filled his pockets with stones, 
hoping to sinkatonce. Some passengers, however, disturbed 
him while on the brink, and he returned to Kensington, 
intending to drown himself in the dusk of the evening. 
On passing my chapel, he saw a number of people crowding 
into it, and he thought he would join them in order to pass 
away the time. His attention was riveted to the sermon, 
which seemed to be in part composed for him; and when 
he heard me quote the lines alluded to, he resolved to 
abandon his suicidal intention.” 


CLXXIV. A Martyr of the Netherlands. Ps. 


xxx. 5. “‘ Hor His anger endureth but a moment.” 


AMONG those who suffered in the Netherlands during the 
fierce governorship of Alva was one John Herwin. “In 
prison,” says the chronicler of the time, “ he used to recreate 
himself by singing of psalins, and the people used to flock 
together to the prison door to hear him. At the place 
of execution one gave him his hand and comforted him. 
Then began he to sing the 30th Psalm. A friar interrupted 
him, but Herwin quickly finished his Psalm, many joining 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 93 


with him in singing of it. Then he said to the people, ‘I 
am now going to be sacrificed ; follow you me when God 
of His goodness shall call you to it” And so he was first 
strangled and then burnt to ashes.” 

Ver. 5 was among the latest sayings of Dr. John Brown, 
the commentator, as he repeated it: _ His anger is fora 
moment ; His favour is for a life: weeping may endure 
for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” 


CLXXV. Closing Words. Ps. xxxi. 5. “Junto Thy 
hands I commit my spirit.” 


Tuts Psalm has furnished closing words to many a life, 
especially ver. 5. It was one of the seven sayings on the 
cross, and the last—“ Father, into Thy hands I commend 
My spirit.” It was the dying words of Stephen addressed 
to Christ, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” It was the 
parting word of Luther, and of Knox, of John Huss when 
he was burned at Constance in 1415, of Jerome of Prague, 
of Julian Palmer, one of the noted martyrs in the reign of 
the English Mary, of Francis Teissier, the first martyr of 
the “ Desert,” who ascended the scaffold in 1686 singing 
it, and of countless others. “The Lord Himself gave the 
word, and great has been the company of those that 
published it.” No watchword of the Captain of salvation, 
made perfect through sufferings, has been taken up by so 
many sons whom He has led to glory through the valley 
of the shadow of death. 

On a dark morning, December 22, 1666, it was the 
dying song of Hugh M’Kail— 

“Into Thy hands I do commit 
My spirit ; for Thou art He, . 


O Thou, Jehovah, God of truth, ” 
That hast redeemed me.” 


He was among those that came from the west before the 
fight at Pentland, but, wishful to enter Edinburgh on a 
mission to friends, he was taken at Braid’s Craigs, and after 
suffering the torture of the boot, was condemned to death 
(see Ps. xvi, p. 192). “About two of the clock,” says the 
narrative, “he was carried to the scaffold with five others 
that suffered with him, where he appeared to the conviction 
of all that formerly knew him with a fairer, better, and 
H 


98 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


more staid countenance than ever they had before observed. 
Being come to the foot of the ladder, he directed his speech 
northward to the multitude, saying that ‘as his years in 
the world had been few [he was twenty-six] so his words 
at that time should not be many.’ Having done speaking 
to the people, who heard him with great attention, he sung 
a part of the 31st Psalm, and then prayed with such power 
and fervency as forced many to weep bitterly. Having 
ended, he gave his cloak and hat from him ; and, when he 
turned himself and took hold of the ladder to go up, he 
said with an audible voice, ‘I care no more to go up this 
ladder, and over it, than if I were going home to my 
father’s house.’ And as he went up, hearing a great noise 
among the people, he called down to his fellow-sufferers, 
‘Friends and fellow-sufferers, be not afraid. Every step 
of this ladder is a degree nearer heaven.’” His farewell 
address is known to'all acquainted with Scottish history, 
and is one of the most rapt and seraphic of that fervid 
time. Death touched his lips with a live coal from the 
altar above before it closed them on earth. 


CLXXVI. An Extempore Sermon. Ps. xxxi. 23. 
“O love the Lord, all ye His saints: for the Lord preserveth 
the faithful.” 


THE famous William Grimshaw, of Haworth, was on one 
occasion cited before the Metropolitan. A complaint being 
lodged against his intrusion into other folds, his grace 
announced a confirmation service in Grimshaw’s church, 
expressing a desire to have an interview with him. In the 
course of the conversation, the prelate, after stating the 
charge of his preaching where he had a mind, added, “ And 
I learn that your discourses are very loose; that, in fact, 
you can and do preach about anything. That I may judge 
for myself of your doctrine and manner of stating it, I give 
you notice that I shall expect you to preach before me and 
the clergy present, in two hours hence, and from the text 
which I am about to name.” The text being named, 
“Why, my lord,” said Grimshaw, “ should the congregation 
be kept out of the sermon for two hours? Send a clergy- 
man to read prayers, and I will bcgin immediately.” 
Prayers being read, Mr. Grimshaw~ascended the pulpit, and 
commenced an extempore prayer for the archbishop, the 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 99 


people, and the young persons about to be confirmed ; and 
so wrestled with God for His assistance and blessing, that 
the congregation, the clergy, and the prelate were moved 
to tears. After the sermon, when the clergy were gathered, 
expecting to hear the archbishop’s reproof of Grimshaw’s 
extemporaneous effusions, taking him by the hand, with a 
tremulous voice and faltering tongue he said, “I would to 
God that all the clergy in my diocese were like this good 
man.” Grimshaw afterwards observed, “I did expect to 
be turned out of my parish on that occasion; but if I had 
I would have joined my friend Wesley, taken my saddle- 
bags, and gone to one of his poorest circuits.” 


CLXXVII. The Favourite Psalm of St. Augus- 
tine. Ps. xxxii. 1-11. 


THIS was the favourite Psalm of Augustine. With refer- 
ence to it he says, “Jntelligentia prima est ut te néris 
peccatorem,” ‘The beginning of understanding is to know 
thyself to be a sinner.” 

When Luther was once asked which were the best 
psalms, he replied, Psalimz Paulinz, “the Pauline psalms ;” 
and being asked to name them he gave the 32nd, 51st, 
130th, and 143rd._ These all belong, it will be observed, to 
the penitential psalms. Luther’s frame of spirit, and his 
struggle for the truth of justification by faith, naturally 
disposed him to this view. But the best psalms may be 
said to be those which at the time we feel to be most 
needed. The heart feels the way to it in time of danger 
as David’s hand to Goliath’s sword. “There is none like 
that ; give it me;” and God’s word is like the sword at the 
gate of Eden—“ it turns every way.” 

Ver. 2 was the spiritual aspiration which Izaak Walton 
set up for the model of his own life. In closing the life of 
Bishop Sanderson, he says: “ Tis now too late to wish that 
my life may be like his, for I am in the eighty-fifth year 
of my age; but I humbly beseech Almighty God that my 
death may be, and I as earnestly beg of every reader to 
say Amen. ‘Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord 
imputeth not iniquity, and zz whose spirit there ts no 

ile.” 

This Psalm was also the favourite of Alexander Peden, 


100 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


of whom so many stories are told in the south of Scotland. 
He wandered for years with a life on the edge of death 
among the moors and mists, and died at last in bed. Men 
would call it ““charmed” ; he would have accounted for it 
by “snow and vapours fulfilling His Word.” When hard 
pressed by the troopers and brought to a breathless stand 
his accustomed prayer was that God would cast the skirt 
of His cloak over him, and more than once he was saved 
by the mist. He died without violence, but his persecutors 
took his body and hung it on a gibbet at Cumnock. There 
he lies buried, and the place has become God’s field. 
“When the service was ended,” says the story of his life 
“he and others that were with him lay down in the sheep- 
house and got some sleep. He rose early, and went up by 
the burnside and stayed long. When he came in to them 
he did sing the 32nd Psalm from the 7th verse to the 
end— 
‘Thou art my hiding-place ; Thou shalt 
From trouble keep me free ; 


Thou with songs of deliverance 
About shalt compass me. 


Ske hoe * 
*Ye righteous, in the Lord be glad, 
In Him do ye rejoice ; 
All ye that upright are in heart, 
For joy lift up your voice.’ 


When he had ended, he repeated the 7th verse again, and 
said, ‘These and what follow are sweet lines which I got 
at the burnside this morning, and I will get more to- 
morrow, and so shall we get daily provision.’” 


CLXXVIII. Anearly Saint. Ps. xxxiv. 9. “O fear the 
Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear 
Him.” 


WHEN Columba felt that his departure was at hand, he 
desired to visit the corn-fields, and say farewell to the 
brothers at work amidst the green ears. Too infirm to 
walk, he was drawn in a car by oxen. Reaching the 
workers, he said, “I much wished to fall on sleep on Easter- 
day ; but then I was fain to wait a little longer, that the 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. toi 


glad festival might not be changed into a day of gloom for 
you.” Then among the springing wheat the labourers 
wept bitterly, for they knew that they should see the 
beloved familiar face no more; but with tender, hopeful 
words, he comforted them ; and, turning towards the East, 
he blessed the island and all its people. 

On the following Saturday, supported by his faithful 
friend Diarmid, he proceeded to bless the granary belonging 
to the community. Seeing two large heaps of corn piled 
up, he exclaimed, “I rejoice to know that, when I leave 
them, my children will not suffer from want. To-day is 
Saturday, which in Holy Writ is called Sabbath, or rest. 
And truly to me it is Sabbath, for it is the last day of my 
mortal life. On this very night I shall go the way of my 
fathers. It is my Lord Jesus who deigns toinvite me; and 
it is He who has made known that my summons will come 
to-night.” 

Then he began to wend his way to the monastery ; but 
wearying with the journey, he rested by the wayside. 
Before him spread the bright and varied panorama he 
knew and loved so well. And as he gazed on isles, ocean, 
and cloud-capped mountain, he broke into the language of 
prophecy : “This place, apparently small and obscure, shall 
be largely honoured, not only by the Scottish kings and 
their people, but also by the chiefs of barbarous nations 
and their subjects; and it shall be held in reverence even 
by the holy men of other Churches.” After this he returned 
to his cell, and occupied himself in his favourite work of 
transcribing the Psalms. On coming to the thirty-fourth 
Psalm, ninth verse, “ They who fear the Lord shall want 
no manner of thing that is good,” he laid aside his pen for 
the last time. 

The saint then repaired to the church for vespers. Re- 
turning to his cell, he lay for some time on his bed with 
its stone pillow, and proceeded to give his final directions, 
that Diarmid might communicate them to his disciples :— 
“Dear children, these are my last words. Live in peace 
and charity one with another, and God, who strengthens 
the good and comforts the just, will grant you all that is 
needful in this life, and will also bestow the everlasting joys 
which are reserved for all who keep this law.” Then he 
lay in silent comm-ning with the Master in whose service 


102 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


he had spent his life; but in the dim dawn, as the bell 
rung its first matin chime, with a quick access of the old 
vigour he arose and entered the church alone. 

The building, as the awe-stricken brethren approached, 
seemed filled by a dazzling radiance, which, however, 
passed away before Diarmid reached the spot. Groping 
in the darkness, the monk called out with tears, “ Where 
art thou, O my father ?” but the kindly voice, once swift 
to respond, was silent. Prostrate before the altar lay the 
venerable saint, and Diarmid, placing himself at his side, 
raised the honoured head upon his knees. The death scene 
recalls the past vividly, as might a picture of Rembrandt’s. 
Again we see a crowd of weeping monks, holding their 
rude lanterns aloft ; and, grouped round the central figures, 
all eyes are riveted to the beloved face over which the 
shadow of death is darkly stealing. Then the heavy eyes 
are opened, and for one moment they rest on the brethren 
with an expression of love and serenity, and raising the 
right hand, Columba makes the sign of blessing. A soft 
sigh escapes his lips, and the apostle of Caledonia enters 
into his rest; closing his career in the year of grace 597, 
and in the seventy-sixth year of his age. 


CLXXIX. God does not Forget His Saints. 
Ps. xxxiv. 10. “ Zhe young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: 
but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.” 


OLIVER HEYWOOD, ejected from Coley Vicarage by the 
Act of Uniformity, lived on a little stock of savings, until 
one day he and his children were at starvation point, and 
with no earthly prospect of another meal. They sang at 
family prayer— 
“When cruse and barrel both are dry, 
We still will trust the Lord Most High.” 


With empty purse and empty basket, their faithful old 
servant then set out from the house, and wandered through 
the streets of Halifax, thinking of the famishing children 
whom she loved like her own life, and wondering how God 
would give them this day their daily bread. Returning 
home, one of the tradespeople of the place, standing at his 
poor, knew her, called her in, and told her that he was just 
casting about for a messenger to take a remittance of five 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 103 
guineas just sent him from Manchester, for the master. 
On her arrival home with money and food, it looked like a 
miracle, and the father said, when they met at evening 
prayer—“ The Lord hath not forgotten to be gracious. His 
word is true from the beginning. ‘The young lions may 
lack, and suffer hunger : but they that trust the Lord shall 
not lack any good thing.’” 


CLXXX. The Tongue. Ps. xxxiv. 13. ‘ Keep thy tongue 
Srom evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.” 


IN Grecian history we read how the Athenians erected to 
Laena’s memory a bronze statue of a lioness without a 
tongue. She was put to the torture, but would not give 
the name of her lover, one of the conspirators who had 
helped to kill Hipparchus. Some say she bit out her 
tongue, lest she should, in a moment of agony, disclose 
anything. 


CLXXXI. God’s Readinessto Hearand Answer 
Prayer. Ps. xxxiv. 15. “ Zhe eyes of the Lord are upon 
the righteous, and fis ears are open unto their cry.” 


A MOTHER had been trying to soothe to sleep her sick 
boy, and the following conversation took place :— 

“Oh, what if we should both fall asleep, and dear baby 
alone up in your room ?” 

“Well, I intend to sleep, and I intend that you should 
sleep too. If baby does wake up, I’ll hear her first cry.” 

“Would you? How is that? How do you hear sc 
quickly ?” 

“Well, dear, I think that verse helps us to know about it, 
‘ His ear is ever open to their cry.’ I feel that my ear is 
very open to my baby’s cry. God made the mother’s 
heart and the mother’s ear, and ‘He who made the ear, 
shall He not hear?’ Doesn't this help us to know that His 
ear must be very open to His children’s cry? Think often 
about this, dear boy, when you are left alone and in pain.” 


CLXXXII. Praising God. Ps. xxxv. 28. “And my 
tongue shall speak of Thy righteousness and of Thy praise all 
the day long.” 


WE are told of Mr. Guthrie, of Fenwick (the author of the 


104 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


well-known book “A Saving Interest in Christ”), that he, 
had a “most gaining way of conversing with people, and 
would have stolen them off their feet to Christ before ever 
they were aware!” He preached one day on the noble 
and seraphic exercise of praising God; and after he had 
pressed that duty as seriously as he could, he came to 
answer some objections that might be proposed. Among 
other things he put this objection: “And ye may praise 
God that get wany mercies from Him; but what say ye to 
us that are under many miseries and wants, and get not 
mercies from Him?” Mr. Guthrie, looking out at the 
window of the kirk, and seeing very pleasant weather, 
presently says, “Yes; hast thou nothing to praise God for ? 
Wilt thou not praise God, man, for good weather to the 
lambs?” 


CLXXXIII. Early Years of Wickedness. Ps. 
xxxvi. 1. ‘‘ There ts no fear of God before his eyes.” 


THOMAS SCOTT, the famous commentator, was very wild 
in early youth. He says himself, referring to the years 
spent at school at Scorton, “ My own conduct at this period 
was as immoral as want of money, pride, and fear of 
temporal consequences, and a natural bashfulness would 
allow it to be; except that in one thing I retained a sort 
‘of habit of my family, and never learned to swear, or to 
take the name of God in vain, unless sometimes when 
provoked to violent passion. There was no fear of God 
before my eyes.’ 


CLXXXIV. Educated Eyes. Ps, xxxvi. 6. “ Thy right 
cousness 18 like the great mountains: Thy judgments are a 
great deep.” 


WHEN a traveller is fresh among the Alps, he is constantly 
deceived in his reckoning. One Englishman declared that 
he could climb the Kighi in half an hour, but after several 
panting hours the summit was still ahead of him; yet 
when he made the boast, some of us who stood by were 
much of his mind—the ascent seemed so easy. This 
partly accounts for the mistakes men make in estimating 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 105 


eternal things: they have been too used to molchills to be 
at home with mountains. Only familiarity with the sub- 
limities of revelation can educate us to a comprehension of 
their heights and depths. 


CLXXXV. Accumulation of Money. Ps. xxxvii. 16. 
“A little that a righteous man hath ts better than the riches of 
many wicked.” 


MANY cases of individual conversion under Mr. Sherman’s 
powerful ministry have come to light. One is told of a 
gentleman who was bent on accumulating money, and who, 
hearing of the minister’s fame, strolled into Sherman’s 
chapel. The text was Ps. xxxvii. 16: “A little that a 
righteous man hath is better than the riches of many 
wicked.” He had gathered heaps of money, and supposed 
that happiness was to be found in its accumulation. The 
sermon put his thoughts on a new track. He learned a 
new lesson and went home thoughtful, and began question- 
ing himself about the employment of his money for doing 
good to the souls of men. His house afterwards was always 
open to Mr. Sherman, who witnessed for himself the fruits 
of piety in this new friend and in his family, and found that 
home a “ Bethel” for Christian devotion and intercourse. 
On what little pivots do the happiness and salvation of 
individuals often turn ! 


CLXXXVI. Cruelty to Animals. Ps. xxxvii. 26. “Zhe 


righteous ts ever merciful.” 


ONE of the many pleasant stories about General Grant 
shows his kindness to animals. One day, at City Point, he 
saw a soldier whipping a horse that could not pull a load 
out ofarut. He went and put his shoulder to the wheel 
and helped push the cart out, saying to the teamster, “If 
you would assist your horse instead of beating him, you 
would get along better.” The soldier demanded to know 
who he was, but the general merely replied that he could 
find out at headquarters. A more frightened or ashamed 
man than this soldier when he found who it was that had 
taught him such a wholesome lesson is not often found. 


105 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 


CLXXXVII. One Eye Inward. Ps. xxxvii. 31. “ 7ha 
law of his God ts in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.” 


Dr. PAYSON was accustomed to say, that “the Christian 
should always have, as it were, one eye turned inward, to 
keep watch over his feelings and motives; and thus the 
work of self-examination would be comparatively easy 
when it was engaged in more formally and deliberately. 
And it is evident that such a mode of living is not only 
useful and desirable, but mecessary, if a man would be 
thoroughly acquainted with himself, and furnished against 
the wiles of Satan and the treachery of his own heart. 


CLXXXVIII. Burdens. Ps. xxxviii. 4. “ For mine tnt- 
guities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are 
too heavy for me.” 


THERE is a gateway at the entrance of a narrow passage 
in London, over which is written, “ No burdens allowed to 
pass through.” 

“And yet we do pass constantly with ours,” said one 
friend to another, as they turned up this passage out of a 
more frequented and broader thoroughfare. They carried 
no visible burdens, but they were like many who, although 
they have no outward pack upon their shoulders, often 
stoop inwardly beneath the pressure of a heavy load upon 
the heart. The worst burdens are those which never meet 
the eye. 

There is another gate—one which we are invited to 
enter, and must enter, if we would ever attain to rest and 
peace, and over which is also inscribed, “No burdens 
allowed to pass through.” This is the strait gate which 
leads to life ; and by it stands One who opened the narrow 
way to which it leads, saying to each one of us, “ Come 
unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I 
will give you rest.” 


CLXXXIX. The Use of Woolin the Ears. Ps, 


xxxvlil. 13. “J, as a deaf man, heard not.” 


“WE are told concerning Bernard of Clairvaux that, after 
he had given himself up entirely to contemplation and 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 107 


walking with God, he met with a considerable dificulty in 
the visits of those friends who were still in the world. 
Their conversation brought back thoughts and feelings 
connected with the frivolities which he had for ever for- 
saken ; and on one occasion, after he had been wearied 
with the idle chit-chat of his visitors, he found himself 
unable to raise his heart towards heaven. When he was 
engaged in the exercise of prayer, he felt that their idle 
talk was evidently the cause of his losing fellowship with 
God. He could not well forbid his friends coming, and 
therefore he prepared himself for their injurious conversa- 
tion by carefully stopping his ears with little wads of flax. 
He then buried his head deep in his cowl, and though 
exposed for an hour to their conversation, he heard nothing, 
and consequently suffered no injury. He spoke to each of 
them some few words of edification, and they went their 
way. We do not suppose that for any great length of 
time he was much troubled with such visitors, for he must 
have been an uncommonly uninteresting companion. If 
people once discover that their clatter is lost upon you, 
they are not quite so eager to repeat the infliction.” 


CXC. Meditation. Ps. xxxix. 3. “ While [ was musing 
the fire burned.” 


A WRITER of the present day says, “I remember Alma 
Tadema, the great painter, saying to me that he sat down 
every day at his easel. Sometimes he began without en- 
thusiasm, and painted on with little interest. But after an 
hour or so he surprised himself in a fit of absorption: the 
fire had kindled within him as he worked. 


CXCI. Brought back from Gates of Death. 
Ps. xxxix. 13. “O spare me, that I may recover strength, 
before I go hence, and be no more.” 


As Columba drew near the close of his laborious life, he 
devoted more time than before to religious meditation and 
prayer. According to Adamnan, many marvels announced 
to the monks that they were soon to lose the good abbot. 
His lonely cell was illumined nightly by a mysterious 
lustre, and the voice of the apostle was heard uplifted in 


108 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


unknown canticles. There is a glen on the west of the 
island, over whose walls hang wreaths and festoons of the 
ivy with which the monks wove together the walls of their 
rude huts, still called the “glen of the temple.” This leads 
to an arable level, known now, as in Columba’s time, by 
the name of J7Zachar, or the sandy plain. Out of the midst 
of this plain rise two green hills. One morning Columba 
said to his attendants, “Let no one follow me to-day; I 
would be alone ;” and he withdrew to the solitude of Ma- 
char. A monk, however, fearing that some accident might 
befall the aged man, followed at a distance, and climbing a 
rocky point, he saw Columba on the larger of the two hills, 
surrounded by a company of angels in white raiment. 
After the lapse of a thousand years, this eminence is still 
known as the ’Czoc Angel—the knoll of the angels. Two 
of the monks who were admitted into his intimate confi- 
dence, sitting one day in his cell, saw that he changed 
countenance ; first, a glow as from excess of joy shone on 
his face, and then a pallid gloom, as though he were 
plunged into sorrow. With tender solicitude they asked 
what ailed him. Still he was silent. They threw them- 
selves at his feet, and implored him not to conceal from 
his children the mysteries that had been revealed to him. 
“Dear children,” he replied after a pause, “I would not 
afflict you. Know then that it is thirty years to-day since 
I began my pilgrimage in Caledonia. Long have I prayed 
God that with this thirtieth year my exile might terminate, 
and I might be recalled to the heavenly country. When 
you saw me so joyous, it was because I could see the 
angels who came in quest of my soul. But suddenly they 
halted, yonder, on that rock across our island strait. as if 
they would fain approach but were prevented—prevenwed 
because the Lord hath given less heed to my fervent prayer 
than to that of the many Churches which have prayed 
for me, and have obtained that I should linger in this 
body four more years. This is the reason of my sorrow. 
But in four years I shall die without previous illness; in 
four years the holy angels will return for me, and I shall 
take my blissful flight with them towards the Lord.” 

That such a vision may have risen in the mind of the 
aged saint, worn by work and watching, is highly probable. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 109 


CXCII. A Duke’s Example. Ps.xl.3 “ Many shall 
see tt, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” 


In a town in Bavaria, there is a little tumble-down church 
where the duke as often as he came that way used to go in 
and pray. If on coming out of the church he happened te 
meet any of the peasants, he loved to converse with them 
pleasantly. One day he met an old man, ard after some 
talk, asked him whether he could do anything for him. 

The peasant replied, “Noble sir, you cannot do anything 
better for me than you have already done.” 

* How so? I do not know that I have done anything for 
you.” 

“But I know it,” said the man; “for how can I forget 
that you saved my son! He travelled so long in sinful 
ways, that for long he would have nothing to do with 
church or prayer. Some time ago he was here, and saw 
you, noble sir, enter this church. ‘I should like to see what 
he does there,’ said the young man scornfully to himself, 
and he glided in after you. But when he saw you pray so 
devoutly, he was so deeply impressed that he also began 
to pray, and from that moment became a new man. I 
thank you for it. This is why I said you can do me no 
greater favour than you have already done.” 


CXCIII. A Hymn. Ps. xl. 8 “JZ delight to do Thy will, 
O my God.” 


THE late Henry Venn Elliot loved best of his sister Char- 
lotte’s hymns, “ Thy will be done.” For himself, he did 
not care so much for “ Just as I am,” though he often said 
he believed “she had done more good by that hymn than 
he had done in all his ministry.” 


fnciV. Subjection of the Will. Ps. xl. 8. ¢7 
delight to do Thy will, O my God.” 


THERE is a memorable passage in the history of St. Francis 
that may throw light on this subject. The grand rule of 
the Order which he founded, was implicit submission to 
the superior. One day a monk proved refractory. He 
must be subdued. By order of St. Francis, a grave was 


110 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


dug deep enough to hold a man; the monk was put into 
it ; the brothers began to shovel in the earth ; while their 
superior standing by looked on stern as death. When the 
mould had reached the monk’s knees, St. Francis asked, 
“Are you dead yet? Is your will dead? Do you yield?” 
There was no answer; down in that grave there seemed 
to stand a man with a will as iron as his own. The signal 
was given, and the burial went on. Dead to pity and all 
the weaknesses of humanity, St. Francis stood ready to 
give the signal that should finish the burial. It was not 
needed, the iron bent; he was vanquished ; the funeral 
was stopped. The poor brother said, “I am dead!” 


CXCV. The Secret of a Preacher’s Success. Ps. 
xl 10. “J have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart; 
LI have declared Thy fatthfulness and Thy salvation: I have 
not concealed Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth from the great 
congregation.” 


ONE of the secrets of the success of Sherman (who followed 
Rowland Hill at Surrey Chapel) as a preacher was the 
studied simplicity of his style, and his homely and forcible 
illustrations. “The glory of the gospel,” he used to say, 
“is its simplicity. We never think of painting gold or 
diamonds,” Whilst appreciating the value of literary art, 
he feared some might think “ more of the polish than the 
material.” One Sunday morning a learned doctor preached 
a very eloquent sermon, of which Mr. Sherman was a 
hearer. When the doctor came into the vestry after he 
left the pulpit, Mr. Sherman said, “Well, doctor, do you 
call this preaching the gospel?” The doctor hesitated 
and replied ; “ Well, I am sure I took a great deal of pains 
in the composition of my sermon! “I doubt not,” Mr. 
Sherman replied; ‘but suppose, doctor, that a poor hungry 
soul had come into Surrey Chapel this morning, do you 
think there would have been anything for him to feed 
upon? Take my advice, and whenever you have such an 
opportunity as you had this morning, preach Christ and 
the plenitude of His grace. I suppose you had not fewer 
than 2000 hearers. What an opportunity of proclaiming 
the great salvation |” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 41) 


CACVI. Sick Rooms. Ps. xli. 3. “Zhe Lord will 
strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: Thou wilt make 
all his bed in his sickness.” 


IT has been well said that sick rooms should be like those 
wayside chapels we see abroad, with the tokens of the 
Passion within, where tired workers can turn in for a few 
moments and lay down their burthen, and find rest and 
refreshment of spirits. Beware, lest the wayside chapel be 
transformed into a drug shop, where an incessant talk of 
ailments forms only a new call to endurance on the part 
of those who set foot within them. 


CXCVII. Duty of Hopefulness. Ps. xliii. 5. “Why 
art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted 
within me? hopein God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is 
the health of my countenance, and my God.” 


AFTER a great disappointment in early life, Sir William 
Rowan Hamilton fell into deep despondence, and on one 
occasion was tempted to commit suicide. He thus writes 
to a friend: “I have once in my life experienced, in all but 
its last fatal force, the suicidal impulse. It was, as I full 
well remember, in the month of February, 1825, and when 
on my way from Dublin to this Observatory, for Dr. 
Brinkley had invited me to join a dinner party here. The 
grief which had recently fallen upon me was one which I 
feel even yet. I remember the exact spot where I thought 
for a moment of plunging, for death, into the water. A 
feeling of personal courage protected me, revolting against 
the imagined act, as one of cowardice. I would not leave 
my post; I felt I had something to do. Alas! what 
practical irreligion and real unbelief were shown in that 
complete and prostrate despondence! I am now deeply 
convinced that along with resignation and heavenly hope, 
it is a duty to cherish also, if possible, a spirit of hope, 
though not of anxiety, with respect to this earthly exist- 
ence, for to a sinful and tremendous depth, at the thought 
of which I shudder now, I have sounded long ago the 
abysses of the opposite spirit, and through God’s grace 
emerged.” 


\ 


112 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CXCVIII. The Conversion of Count de Gasparin. 
Ps. xlv. 5. ‘* Zhine arrows are sharp in the heart of the 
king's enemies ; whereby the people fall under Thee.” 


ADOLPH MONOD, at Lyons, France, one Lord’s day was 
preaching from the text, “God so loved the world,” etc. 
He spoke of Christ as the true God-man, and announced 
that the next Sabbath he would show how men could be 
saved by faith in this God-man. But the authorities of 
this church were opposed to a doctrine so purely evangelical, 
and informed Monod that if he did not omit the sermon he 
had announced, they would have him arrested and brought 
before the Prefect, and dismissed from his office. Monod, 
notwithstanding, preached his sermon, and the authorities 
made their complaint. The Prefect demanded the two 
sermons, and Monod sent them to him. 

The Prefect, Count de Gasparin, was a Catholic. He 
came home at evening to his wife, and found the sermons. 
He never liked sermons, especially evangelical sermons ; 
but he was a man who discharged faithfully the duties of 
his office. It was necessary that the sermons. should be 
read. He came to his wife with the manuscripts in his 
hand, complaining that he would have to give up the whole 
evening to this irksome and protracted labour. She offered, 
as her husband’s worthy helpmeet, to read them with him. 
They began. With every page they grew more interested. 
They forgot that it was evening and night. That which 
at first was an official duty became a service of the heart. 
They finished the first, and eagerly grasped the second. 
And what was the result? Asa magistrate, Gasparin was 
forced to deprive Monod of his place, because all the 
authorities demanded it. But he and his wife became 
evangelical Christians, living, joyful, and happy believers 
in Christ. They found that night “the pearl of great 
price,” and it has. remained in the family. Their son, 
Count Agenor de Gasparin, has long been the head and 
pillar of the evangelical party in France. 


CXCIX. The Worth and Beauty ofa Soul. Ps, 
xlix. 8. “ For the redemption of their soul ts precious.” 


IT is told of St. Catherine of Sienna that she set a true 
value on the individual soul, however defaced by sin, and 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 133 


exclaimed, of one sunk and degraded, to her Dominican 
Confessor Raymond, “Oh, father, could you but see the 
beauty of a rational soul, you would sacrifice your life a 
hundred times for its salvation, 


CC. The Reconciliation Death. Ps. xlix. 8. ™ The 


redemption of their soul is precious.” 


THE death of Dr. Friedrich Schleiermacher, one of the 
greatest names of Germany, is worthy of record. Profound 
as his theological views may appear, and scientific beyond 
dispute as many deem them, they are in many respects 
only the gropings of a grand mind, which was self-relying 
and proud, after that truth which the Spirit of God has 
often made patent to babes. Upon his deathbed his 
sufferings were great, and he complained of a violent 
sensation of burning inwardly. “ Dear children,” he said, 
“you should now all of you go from the room, and leave 
me alone; I would fain spare you the woful spectacle.” 
The perfect lineaments of death presented themselves ; 
his eye appeared to have grown dim,—his death-struggle 
to have been accomplished. At this moment he laid his 
two forefingers upon his left eye, as he often did when 
reflecting deeply, and began to speak: “We have the 
reconciliation-death of Jesus Christ, His body and His 
blood.” While thus engaged, he had raised himself up, 
his features began to grow animated, his voice became 
clear and strong, and he said with priestly solemnity, 
“ Are ye one with me in this faith?” to which his friends 
replied with aloud “Yea!” “Then let us celebrate the 
Lord’s Supper! But there can be no talk of the sacristan. 
Quick, quick! let no one stumble at matters of form!” 
After that which was necessary for the purpose had been 
fetched (his friends having waited with him, during the 
interval, in solemn silence), he began, with increasingly 
radiant features, and eyes in which there had returned a 
wonderful, indescribable brightness, nay, a sublime glow 
of affection, with which he looked upon those around him, 
to utter a few words of prayer and of introduction to the 
sacred service. After this, addressing in full and aloud, 
to each individual, and last of all to himself, the words of 
the institution, he first gave the bread and the wine to t « 
i 


114 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


others who were present, then partook of them himself, 
and said, “Upon these words of Scripture I abide; they 
are the foundation of my faith.” After he had pronounced 
the benediction, his eye first turned once more towards 
his consort with an expression of perfect love, and then 
he looked at each individual with affecting and fervent 
cordiality, uttering these words, “Thus are we, and abide 
in z¢izs love and fellowship, oze/” He laid himself back 
upon the pillow. The radiance still rested upon his features. 
After some minutes he said, “ Now, I can hold out here no 
longer ;” and again, “ Give me another position.” He was 
laid upon his side; he breathed a few times; life came to 
astand. The children had entered the room in the mean- 
time, and surrounded the bed, kneeling. His eye gradually 
closed. 

It is amid scenes like these that the life is tested. It 
is there that men are detected whether they have been 
gambling regarding their eternity, and staking all on the 
throw of a die, or giving diligence to make their calling 
and election sure. Calmly to adjust the position of the 
body, and as calmly to wait for “the purchased redemp- 
tion” of the soul—it is thus that we discern between the 
fine gold and the reprobate silver. 


CCI. What Next! Ps. xlix.17. “ When he dieth he shall 
carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.” 


A PROFESSOR of great reputation for wisdom and piety 
was once accosted by a student just entering the university 
of which he was a professor. “ My parents have just given 
me leave to study the law, which is the thing I have beer 
wishing for all my life, and I have now come to this 
university on account of its great fame, and mean to spare 
no pains in mastering the subject.” While thus he was 
running on, the professor interrupted him. “ Well, and 
when you have got through your course of studies, what 
then?” “Then I shall take my doctor’s degree.” “And 
then?” answered the doctor. “And then,” continued the 
youth, “I shall have a number of difficult cases te manage, 
which will increase my fame, and I shall gain a great 
reputation.” “And then?” repeated the holy man. “Why 
then there cannot be a question I shall be promoted te 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 11S 


some hich office or another; besides, I shall make money 
and grow rich.” “And then?” the holy man gently inter- 
posed. “And then,” replied the youth, “I shall live in 
honour and dignity, and be able to look forward to a happy 
old age.” “And then?” was again asked. “And then, 
and then,” said the youth, “I shall die.” Here the holy 
man lifted up his voice and again inquired, “ And then?” 
The young man could answer no more, but went away 
sorrowful. 


CCII. “The Cattle on a Thousand Hills.” 
Ps. l. 10. “ For every beast of the forest is Mine, and the 
cattle upon a thousand hills.” 


MOTHER JOHNSON (as she was affectionately called) and 
her husband were real Christians, not ashamed of their 
Lord, and they took every opportunity which offered to 
speak a word for their Master. Being in charge of a 
small side station in the north of Scotland, they came 
often in contact with Highland drovers on their way to 
southern markets with their cattle. They used to talk 
faithfully to such, as they stopped at the cottage for 
refreshment and rest. By-and-by the husband died, and 
Mother Johnson went to a northern city, where she lived 
amongst the poorest—and still laboured for God as a 
Bible-woman. She was in no society’s pay, but she read 
in her Bible that God would supply all her need, and she 
believed it. 

One winter’s evening, after a long day’s work, she arrived 
at her humble lodging, her feet wet with melting snow, and | 
on taking off her boots which were much worn, she 
literally talked with the Lord in some such words, “Ye 
ken, Lord, ye promised to supply all my need when I was 
on your business.” 

“The cattle on a thousand hills are Mine,’ came in- 
stantly into her mind. 

“Ah, Lord, I ken naething aboot the cattle,” and 
holding up her boots, she added, “See how holey they 
are; I need a new pair.” “The cattle upon a thousand 
hills are Mine,” was once more the answer. 

This went on for some time, until the constant repetition 
of the apparently inappropriate passage almost annoyed 


116 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


her. Then a stranger came to her door, and knocked—a 
drover—who said as he came into her poor room, “ Mother 
Johnson, mine had a gude time awa Sooth this year wi oor 
cattle, and some of the auld friends sent ye this,” placing 
five pounds in her hands. Then, as she said to a lady 
visitor, “I kent a’ aboot His cattle.” 


CCIII. A Pauline Psalm. Ps. li. 1-19. 


THIS has had a manifold history, open and secret. It is 
one of the Pauline psalms which delighted Luther. 

It was sung by George Wishart and his friends at the 
Laird of Ormiston’s, in East Lothian, on the night when 
he was taken prisoner. “ After suppar he held comfortable 
purpose of the death of Goddis chosen childrin, and 
mirrelie said, ‘Methinks that I desire earnestly to sleep ;’ 
and therewith he said, ‘ Will we sing a psalm?’ And so 
he appointed the 51st, which was put in Scotishe meter, and 
began thus,— 

* Have mercy on me, God of might, 
Of mercy Lord and King ; 
For Thy mercy is set full right 
Above all earthly thing, 
Therefore I cry baith day and night, 
And with my hert sall sing ; 
To Thy mercy with Thee will I go.’” 


The version of the Psalm is by John Wedderburn, of 
Dundee. 

The Psalm was read to Lady Jane Grey and her husband, 
Guildford Dudley, when they were executed together, Aug. 
22nd, 1553,—read to her in Latin, and repeated by her 
in English. It was read also at Norfolk’s execution a few 
years later; it was the J/zserere or dying psalm of the 
time. 

When it was read to Henry V. of England as he was 
dying, the closing words, “ Build Thou the walls of Jeru- 
salem,” seemed to fall on his ear as a reproach, and he 
murmured, “If I had finished the war in France, and 
established peace, I would have gone to Palestine to rescue 
the Holy City from the Saracens.”, 

Crespin, in his “Martyrologie,” tells of Pierre Milet, burned 
in 1550 on the Place Maubert, Paris, with the refinements 
of cruelty common at the time, that, being hoisted in the 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 117 


air, he began to sing the 51st Psalm, MWeserzcorde au pauvre 
vicieux. When the fire was kindled it caught the straw 
which was put under his armpits and burned his hair. But 
not the less he continued the psalm when his limbs were 
consumed. 

It was the last prayer of G¢colampadius, the close friend 
of Zwingli, whose untimely death, in 1531, aggravated a 
sickness he had, and brought him to his end. He called 
the ministers of the churches round him, exhorted them to 
fidelity and purity of doctrine, prayed earnestly with the 
words of David in the 51st Psalm, and soon after fell asleep. 

Ver. 18. The first presbytery of the Irish Presbyterian 
Church was constituted in Carrickfergus by immigrants 
from Scotland, June 1oth, 1662. There were five ministers 
and as many elders. The sermon was from Ps. li. 18, 
“Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion; build Thou 
the walls of Jerusalem.” Two hundred years afterwards, 
in 1842, every minister of the Irish Presbyterian Church 
preached from this same text. There were then above 
five hundred. 


CCIV. Caught by Guile. Ps. li. 13. “ Zhen will J 
teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted 
unto Thee.” 


BILNEY, who afterwards became a martyr for the truth, fell 
in love with young Latimer, then a Roman Catholic priest. 
It was not safe then to preach the Gospel, so he said to 
Latimer, “I would like you to be my father confessor,” 
and according to the usages of his Church, he dared not 
refuse. Afterwards Latimer told that when Bilney made 
his study a confessional, he poured forth such a tale of sin 
and grace that it gave him “a smell of the grace of God.” 
Thus Latimer was caught by guile, and turned from that 
day. 


CCV. An Old Hebrew Parable. Ps. li.17. “The 
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite 
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” 


AN Israelite came to the door of the tabernacle with a 
lamb for a sin-offering. The priest took it from his hands, 


118 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


but found it maimed. He called the offerer: “ Dost thou 
not know the law?” “But, my father, I am poor!” “Why 
then didst thou not bring two turtle-doves, as the law 
allows thee?” “Nay, my father, but the lamb is more 
valuable, and I was ashamed to bring so small a sacrifice 
to our God and before His people.” “And dost thou think, 
my son, that God is pleased with the value of thy offering ? 
The cattle upon a thousand hills are His. He demands 
obedience, and a spotless dove is more acceptable than an 
ox that is blemished. Go and subdue thy pride.” The 
Israelite went his way, sorrowful and ashamed. The peni- 
tent in the Psalm of David was a part of the service of the 
temple for that day. A poor penitent came up to worship 
before the Lord who had just risen from a sick bed. He 
could now scarcely sustain his tottering limbs. The words 
of the Psalm were like a cordial to his sinking spirit. One 
after another brought his sacrifice, and was accepted ; but 
the penitent had none. At length he drew near the priest, 
and said, “ Last night a poor widow and her children came ~ 
to me, and I had nothing to give her but the two pigeons 
which were ready for sacrifice.” “Why then art thou come 
tome, my son?” I heard them sing, “ The sacrifices of God 
are a broken spirit. Wéill He not accept mine? God be 
merciful to me a sinner!” The old priest was melted, and 
the tears started in his eye as he raised the poor penitent. 
He laid his hands on his head: “ Blessed be thou, my son! 
Thine offering is accepted. It is better than thousands of 
rivers of oil. Jehovah make His face to shine upon thee, 
and give thee peace!” 


CCVI. The Last Hours of Darnley. Ps. lv. 4 
“ My heart is sore pained within me.” 


DARNLEY’S servants told of the last hours of his life that 
Mary’s words at parting made him feel very uneasy. She 
left him at the house of the Kirk o’ Field (near the site of 
the present University), and went to Holyrood that night 
to be present at the marriage of one of her maids of honour. 
On quitting him she said, “It is a year to-day since David 
Rizzio died.” He could not sleep, and turned to read the 
lesson of the day, which was the 55th Psalm. Next morn- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 119 
ing he was found lying dead in the little garden beside the 
house. It was Sabbath evening, Feb. oth, 1567. 

Some of the verses sound like a knell on a sinful past, 
and a threatening of doom on the men of blood around. 
Well for poor Darnley if he got his heart into the closing 
words of the Psalm! 

Ver. 4. “My heart is sore pained within me; and the 
terrors of death are fallen upon me.” 

Ver 5. “ Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, 
and horror hath overwhelmed me.” 

Ver. 23. “ But Thou, O God, shalt bring them down into 
the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not 
live out half their days; but I will trust in Thee.” 


CCVII. My Wanderings. Ps. lvi. 8. “ Zhou tellest mv 
wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they 
not in Thy book?” 


This verse was frequently in the mouth of Archbishop 
Ussher, who was driven to and fro through England and 
Ireland, amid the troubles and changes in Church and 
State. He was one of the best and most learned men of 
his time ; born in 1580 in Dublin, he died at Reigate, in 
England, in 1655, and was a preacher of the gospel for 
fifty-five years. 


CCVIII. An Exemplary Lady. Ps. lvi 8. “Put Thou 
my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?” 


THERE is an cld MS. of a sermon preached at the funeral 
of the Lady May Farewell, at Hill Bishops, near Taunton, 
in 1660, which was delivered by the good old Puritan, Mr. 
George Newton. The Lady Farewell had been a good 
friend to him, and he was always welcomed at her home. 
Part of the discourse runs as follows :— 

“She lived not in pleasure, but in a strict performance 
(not of the easiest only, but) of the hardest and severest 
private duties, and in diligent attendance of the publique 
ordinances in her own and in the neighbour congregations,. 
under which, while some were hardened, she melted, and 
closely dropt many a silent, secret tear (I speake it upon 
good assurance), which, though she covered, God observed 


120 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 
and received into His bottle. Among many other graces 
which I have not room to mention, her humility was 
orient. She had exactly learned Bernard’s golden rule, 
which he illustrates with a simile: ‘As he that goes in at 
a little low door, it matters not how much he stoops, but 
if he beare himself one inch too high, he is in danger’; 
so she regarded not how low she stoopt, nor how far she 
condescended, in doing any office, or in bearing any 
burthen, wherein she might fulfil the law of love.” 


CCIX. Sin against God. Ps. lvii. 4. “Against Thee, 
Thee only have I sinned.” 


SCOTT, the commentator, was bound apprentice to a 
surgeon at Alford, near Brazloft, after he left school. Here 
he behaved in such a manner that his master dismissed 
him at the end of two months, and he returned home in 
deep disgrace. He says: “ Yet I must regard this short 
season of my apprenticeship as always the choicest mercies 
of my life. My master, though himself irreligious, first 
excited in my mind a serious conviction of sin committed 
against God. Remonstrating with me on my misconduct, 
he said, ‘I ought to recollect that it was not only dis- 
pleasing to him, but wicked in the sight of God.” This 
remark proved the primary means of my conversion.” 


CCX. A Missionary of the Seventh Century. . 
Ps, Ix. 1-12. 


THIS was the Psalm sung at the death of Cuthbert, March 
20th, 687. It was in the order of service. This missionary 
of the seventh century is first heard of as a shepherd 
boy on the hills of Gala Water, then known as Wedale. 
Arrested by the religious feeling of the time, he settled 
first in Melrose under Boisil, who was head of the monastery. 
He became the apostle of the glens of the south of Scot- 
land and north of England, and retired first to Lindisfarne, _ 
or Holy Island, then from love of solitude, which was 
a passion of the age, to the lonely, storm-beaten Ferne 
Islands, known to later generations through the heroism 
of Grace Darling. Numerous legends have gathered round 
his life, and the wanderings of his body after his death, till 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 121 


it reached its present resting-place in Durham Cathedral. 
The many churches that bear his name between the Forth 
and the Tyne are witnesses to the estimate of his work; 
and, in the midst of growing corruption of Christian truth, 
and the conflicts of contending races, Saxon and Briton, 
Pict and Scot, he sowed seed which took vital hold, and 
sprang up in after ages. The account of his death has 
been given by Bede, who received it from Herefrid, an 
eye-witness. He had retired to one of the Ferne Islands, 
and was known to be dying. A company of his brethren 
from Lindisfarne came to visit him, but only one was 
admitted to his death-bed. Meanwhile the others sang 
the 6oth Psalm. When Herefrid came out and announced 
his death, one of them mounted the high ground above 
the cell, and held up two lighted torches, one in either 
hand, a preconcerted signal to their friends in the Holy 
Isle that Cuthbert had departed. They were engaged in 
singing the same Psalm, and the wail was carried with it 
across the sea. 

It was in the time of Cuthbert that the Pictish kingdom, 
after a great victory over the Saxons, crossed the Forth, 
occupied Edinburgh and the Lothians, and so made way 
for a separate nationality in the North of Britain which 
became the basis for an independent Scottish Church, the 
Church of Knox, of Melville, and of the Covenanting 
struggle. 

The 60th Psalm had a place in one of the incidents of 
that history. Robert Douglas gave it out when he preached 
the coronation sermon of Charles II. at Scone, January Ist, 
1651, the Marquis of Argyll putting the crown on the head 
of the ungrateful monarch who afterwards sent him to the 
scaffold. The text was 2 Kings xi. 12, 17, the sermon 
very long, and filled with unpalatable and uncourtly truths. 
The Covenanters, intent on reconciling loyalty with 
liberty, were the dupes of the frivolous, selfish king; but 
there was a word of prophetic insight in the close of the 
sermon when the preacher quoted Neh. v. 13, which he 
said had been done before in the East Kirk of Edinburgh 
at the ratification of the Solemn League and Covenant: 
‘Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every 
man from His house, and from His labour, that performeth 
not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied,” 


122 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Thirty years of broken pledges and oppression followed, 
but the threatening was made good. 

The same Psalm had a memorable place in the history 
of the Secession Church of Scotland. When Ebenezer 
Erskine, in 1740, was driven from his church, he took his 
place with an immense multitude below the battlements 
of Stirling Castle, and sang the first five verses of this 
Psalm. Looking down on the field where the heroic 
Wallace gained a decisive victory for his country, the 
words have in them the ring of battle,— 


“ And yet a banner Thou hast given 
To them who Thee do fear ; 
That it by them because of truth 
Displayéd may appear. 
“That Thy beloved people may 
Delivered be from thrall, 


Save with the power of Thy right hand, 
And hear me when I call.” 


The Psalm of his friend Wilson of Perth, in the same 
circumstances, had a quieter tone though scarcely less 
appropriate: Ps. lv. 6-8 and 12-14. His text was fittingly 
chosen, Heb. xiii. 13. Both of these leaders were chil- 
dren of the Covenanters. When the Secession and Relief 
Churches joined in 1847, in Tanfield Hall, Edinburgh, to 
form the United Presbyterian Church, the 60th Psalm was 
again sung, and with it Ps. cxlvii. 1-3, division ending in 
reconstruction,— 


“God doth build up Jerusalem ; 
And He it is alone 
That the dispersed of Israel 
Dotk gather iato one,” 


CCXI. The Morning Song of the Christian 
Church. Ps. lsiii. 1-11. 


As early as the third century this was the morning song 
of the Christian Church. 

Ver. 6, 7. In the life of Theodore Beza it is told that, 
beginning to be much troubled with want of sleep, he be- 
guiled the time with holy meditations, and, speaking to 
his friends of it, used that speech, “When I remember 
Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 123 


watches. Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in 
the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” And also Ps 
xvi. 7, “My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” 


CCXII. The Lord’s Prayer of the Old Testa- 
ment. Ps. lxvii. 1-7. 


Tuis Psalm has been called by the ancient expositors “the 
Old Testament Lord’s Prayer.” It has, like it, seven divi- 
sions. The first three and last three are linked by a longer 
one in the middle, and the third and fifth are in the same 
words, It is by special distinction the missionary psalm. 

In the year 1644 the Corporation of London invited the 
Houses of Parliament to a grand banquet, as proof of the 
union of their cause, and in celebration of their victory, 
The Westminster Assembly of Divines and the Scottish 
Commissioners were also invited, and the festival was after 
the manner of that of Solomon at the dedication of the 
temple. Stephen Marshall, a noted preacher of the day, 
selected for his text the appropriate words 1 Chron. xii. 
last three verses ; and the spiritual provision seems to have 
reached a profusion not thought of in public feasts of our 
days. Baillie gives a full description of the rejoicings, and 
tells how the feast ended with the singing of the 67th 
Psalm, Dr. Burgess reading the line, that all might take 
part, “a religious precedent,” says a chronicler of the time, 
“worthy to be imitated by all godly Christians in both 
their public and private meetings.” 


CCXIII. The Song of Battles. Ps. lIxviii. 1-35, 


As the sun rose from the German Ocean at the battle of 
Dunbar, September 3rd, 1650, and as the Scottish army 
left their strong position on the heights for a miserable 
defeat in a wretched cause, Cromwell pointed to the sun 
with the opening words, “Let God arise, let His enemies 
be scattered.” The thanksgiving psalm sung by his army 
on the field was the 117th, known afterwards among the 
Puritans as “the Dunbar Psalm.” 

The 68th Psalm was known among the Huguenots as 
“the song of battles,” and was raised by them in many a 


124 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


bloody and despairing conflict. It often seemed to fail, 
but in the end, and in the highest sense, it must succeed. 


“Que Dieu se montre seulement 
Et l’on verra soudainement 
Abandonner la place, 
Le camp des ennemis epars, 
Et ses haineux, de toutes parts 
Fuir devant sa face.” 


CCXIV. A Medieval Saint. Ps. lxix. 1. “ Save me, 
O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul.” 


ST. CATHERINE of Sienna, like other medizval saints, 
considered the body as a thing to be crushed. Her 
austerities were terrible. She deprived herself almost 
entirely of food, and for many of the last years of her 
brief life seems to have lived on a few raw vegetables and 
the sacred wafer. Three times a day she scourged herself 
with an iron chain, and she wore a spiked chain round her 
loins. She denied herself natural sleep, passing the whole 
night in prayer, till the matin bell of St. Dominic rang 
out clear in the early dawn, when she would lie down on 
her bed of planks for an hour’s repose, satisfied that her 
brethren were carrying on the eternal hymn of love and 
adoration. No wonder that her poor disordered body 
became the seat of infernal visions, that her whole life 
became such a mingled web of visions, and realities, of 
truest service and strangest ecstasies. Like St Antony, 
she cried, “ Lord, where wert Thou when my heart was so 
troubled?” “I was in the midst of thy heart.” “Ah, 
Lord,” she replied, “Thou art everlasting Truth, and I 
humbly bow before Thy word ; but how can I believe that 
Thou wert in my heart when it was filled with such detest- 
able thoughts?” Then the Lord asked her, “ Did these 
thoughts give thee pain or pleasure?” “An exceeding 
pain.” ‘Thou wast in woe because I was hidden in the 
midst of thy heart ; My presence it was which rendered 
these thoughts insupportable to thee.” 


CCXV. “My Psalm.” Psawm Ixxi. 1-24. 


THIs was in his old age the favourite psalm of the Coven- 
anter Robert Blair, which he was accustomed to call “my 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 125 


psalm.” The Christian Father Origen used to put this 
same claim to passages of the Bible which.came home to 
him—“ this is my Scripture.” Robert Blair was one of 
the most distinguished men of his day for ability, learning, 
and piety. He had in his early years a successful discus- 
sion with Dr. John Cameron, famous as a scholar in France 
and Scotland, professor in Saumur, and Principal of the 
University of Glasgow. His life was a very eventful one. 
He was forced to take refuge from persecution in Ireland, 
and was one of the chief founders of Presbyterianism there. 
Still pursued, he was half-way across the Atlantic to seek 
rest in New England, but was driven back by storm to 
continue his work. He died in 1666, near Aberdour, in 
Fife, where he lies buried. 

This was the Psalm asked for on his death-bed by Philip 
de Morny, known as Plessis de Morny, a man of illustrious 
family, earnest piety, and chivalrous spirit, who cast in 
his lot with the Huguenots, and stood by them in every 
extremity. Prayer being ended, he desired they would 
read unto him the 7ist Psalm, giving testimony of the 
infinite pleasure which he took in it, and of the applica- 
tion he made for his own consolation. He said he was 
persuaded of an eternal life by the demonstration of the 
Holy Spirit, more powerful, more clear, and more certain 
than all the demonstrations of Euclid, repeating two or 
three times the words of the psalmist—cxvi. 10, “T believ ed, 
therefore have I spoken.” 


CCXVI. Like Jesus. Ps. lxxii. 4. “ A shall judge the 
poor of the people, He shali save the children of the needy. and 
shall break in pieces the oppressor.” 


Mr. SHERMAN had an excellent Christian wife, greatly 
beloved by all who knew her, and especially so by the 
poor. A lady overheard some poor women speaking of 
her. “There she is,” said one of them, “the dear creature ; 
she is like Jesus Christ.” “How so?” asked another. “I 
know she is very good ; but why is she like Jesus Christ ?” 
“ Because,” was the reply, “she never despises any one, and 
has always a smile and a kind word for the poor.” 


126 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCXVII. A Word of Refreshing. Ps. Ixxiii. 1. 
“ Truly God is good to Israel.” 


AFTER the defeat of Montcontour, as they were carrying 
away Coligny, nearly suffocated by the blood of three 
wounds, which was pouring into his closed visor, an old 
friend of his, who was wounded like himself, and carried 
beside him, repeated the first words of this Psalm— 


“Si est ce que Dieu est tres doux”— 


“Truly God is good to Israel.” The historian adds, 
‘That great captain confessed afterwards that this short 
word refreshed him, and put him in the way of good 
thoughts and firm resolutions for the future.” 

Ver. 26, “My flesh and my heart faileth,” was the last 
verse on which the thoughts of Charles Wesley rested. 
When near his death, he called his wife to him and bade 
her write to his dictation. He died as he had lived. It 
was the last of 7000 hymns, some of them the finest in the 
English language, which had flowed from his heart in all 
the turns and changes of life. 


**TIn age and feebleness extreme, 
Who shall a sinful worm redeem? 
Jesus, my only hope Thou art, 
Strength of my failing flesh and heart. 
O could I catch a smile from Thee, 
And drop into eternity !” 


CCXVIII. “Notwithstanding his Talents.” Ps. 
Ixxiil. 22. “So foolish was /, and ignorant: 1 was as a beast 
before Thee.” 


ON one occasion Sir David Brewster was listening to a 
brief memoir of a man of science, a medical man, of whom 
it was said that “notwithstanding his high talents and his 
great literary and scientific attainments, he received Christ 
as his Saviour.” Brewster interrupted the reader with an 
exclamation of vehement disapproval. “ Noftwzethstanding 
his talents! That disgusts me,” he said. “A merit fora 
man to bow his intellect to the Cross! Why, what can 
the highest intellect on earth do but bow to God’s word 
and God’s mind thankfully ?” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 12; 


CCXIX. The Covenanters. Ps, lIxxiv. 10 “Q God 
how long shall the adversary reproach ?” 
_“ How long, Lord, shall the enemy 

Thus in reproach exclaim? 

And shall the adversary thus 
Always blaspheme Thy name? 

Thy hand, even Thy right hand of might, 
Why dost Thou thus draw back? 

O from Thy bosom pluck it out 
For our deliverance sake.” 


This Psalm was sung by the Covenanters before the fight 
at Pentland (Rullion Green), November 28th, 1666. Goaded 
by oppression, they had come from the west country in 
arms to present a remonstrance to the Government. They 
approached Edinburgh in the hope of a hearing, and of 
support from their friends there; but a strong force had 
been collected to overawe them. A minute and interesting 
account is given by Veitch, in his memoir, of the retreat of 
the weary, discouraged, and half-armed remnant by Colin- 
ton, and along the east side of the Pentlands. They were 
intercepted by General Dalziel, through a pass in the hills 
near Glencorse, and sang this Psalm before the action. 
They made a brave resistance, successful at first, but were 
at last broken. The fugitives were slaughtered with great 
barbarity, the captured shut up in Greyfriars churchyard, 
without food or shelter, numbers executed and banished 
to the plantations. The graves of some of the siain may 
be seen on the hillside where they fell, and a monument 
which has faith and truth in its lines if rude in rhyme :-— 

“A cloud of witnesses lie here, 
Who for Christ’s interest did appear ; 
And to restore true liberty, 
O’erturned then by tyranny, 
These heroes fought with great renown, 
By falling got the martyr’s crown.” 


CCXX. Made Perfect through Suffering. Ps, 
Ixxiv. 16. “ Zhe day ts Thine, the night also 7s Thine.” 


JULIANA HoratTIA EwIne, the favourite writer of chil- 
dren’s stories, suffered greatly before her death. She was 
seldom able in her illness to concentrate her attention on 
solid works, and for religious exercise chiefly relied on 


128 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


what was stored in her memory. She liked to repeat the 
alternate verses of the Psalms when the others were read 
to her. After one night of great suffering, in which she 
had been repeating George Herbert’s poem, “ The Pulley,” 
she said that the last verse had helped her to realize what 
the hidden good might be which underlay her pain :— 


“Let him be rich and weary : that at least 
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness 
May toss him to my breast.” 


She had each week a calendar written out, with a text 
chosen by herself at the top, and as each day passed it 
was struck through by her pencil. One week she had, “In 
patience possess ye your souls.” For the text of another 
week she had, “Be strong, and of a good courage,” as the 
words had been said to her by a dear friend to cheer her 
just before undergoing the trial of an operation. Later 
still, she chose,—‘ The day is Thine, the night also is 
Thine.” 


CCXXI. Earth’s Dark Places. Ps, lxxiv, 20. “ Zhe 
dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.” 


INFANTICIDE was fearfully common among the Hawaiian 
islanders before the introduction of Christianity. We are 
told of an old woman who was seen on the outskirts of a 
Sunday-school celebration, beating her breast and wailing. 
A missionary went to her, and said, “ What is the matter 
that you should weep over such a beautiful sight? You 
should be happy to see such a sight, for you can remember 
when things were very different among our people.” And 
the poor soul cried out in anguish, “ Why didn’t the mis- 
sionaries come before? These hands are stained with the 
blood of my twelve children, and not one of my flesh to 
rejoice here to-day!” And again she wailed,—* Oh, why 
didn t the missionaries come before ?” 


CCXXII. Religiona Stepping-stone to Worldly 
Success. Ps. lxxxili. 3. “ Zhy hidden ones.” 

GoD has many hidden ones. The following extract from 

the will of the late distinguished mathematician, Professor 

De Morgan, will serve to suggest the consoling thought 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 129 


that the life-long faith, which so happily found expression 
at the end of life, may have existed in the case of many 
other reserved and conscientious persons, whose lives were 
hid with Christ in God, though they died and made no 
sign :—“I commit my future destiny, with hope derived 
from experience, to Almighty God, who has been through 
my life, and will be hereafter, my Guide and support: to 
God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom I 
believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the 
dead, and whom I have not confessed with my mouth in 
the sense usually attached to these words, because such 
confession has been, in my time, the only way up in the 
world,” 


CCXXIII. A Servant Girl at the Scaffold. Ps. 
Ixxxiv. 4-12. ‘‘ Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house.” 


MARION HARVEY, a servant girl in Borrowstounness, 
twenty years of age, was executed at Edinburgh in 1681, 
for hearing Donald Cargill, and for helping his escape at 
South Queensferry. When annoyed by the Bishop on the 
way to the scaffold, who wished to thrust the prayers of 
his curate on her and her fellow-sufferer, she said, “ Come, 
Isabel, let us sing the 23rd Psalm,” which they did; and, 
having come to the scaffold, and sung the 84th Psalm, she 
said, “I am come here to-day for avowing Christ to be the 
Head of His Church and King in Zion. Oh seek Him, 
sirs; seek Him, and ye shall find Him.” 

Isabel Alison, who suffered with her, belonged to Perth, 
and lived very privately till she was apprehended for 
having heard Donald Cargill, and for refusing the test. 
On the scaffold she said, “ Farewell all created comforts. 
Farewell sweet Bible, in which I delighted most, and which 
has been sweet to me since I came to prison. Farewell 
Christian acquaintances. Now into Thy hands I commit 
my spirit, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” Whereupon the 
hangman threw her over. 

No execution of those cruel times seems to have excited 
a deeper interest and sympathy throughout the country. 
Lord Fountainhall, a judge of the time, twice notices their 
end, and tries to excuse the sentence. In his “ Observes,” 
he says, “ There were hanged at Edinburgh two women cf 

K 


130 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


otdinary rank for their uttering treasonable words and 
other principles and opinions contrary to all our government. 
They were of Cameron’s faction. At the scaffold, one of 
them told, so long as she followed and heard the curates, 
she was a swearer, Sabbath breaker, and with much 
aversion read the Scriptures, but found much joy upon her 
spirit since she followed the Conventicle preaching.” 


CCXXIV. The Brothers De Witt. Ps. Ixxxvi. 7. 
“In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee.” 


THE Word of God has been the comfort of very many in 
the prospect of sufferings and death. We are told of the 
brothers De Witt, the renowned Dutch statesmen, that 
when their assassins found them, the brothers heard them 
approach without alarm. Cornelius de Witt, broken down 
by the agonies of torture, was lying on his bed, and John 
was seated before a table reading the Bible to his brother, 
to strengthen him against the fear of death and the an- 
guish of the last hour of life. 


CCXXV. Deliverance from Evil. Ps. Ixxxvi. 13. 
“ For great ts Thy mercy toward me: and Thou hast delivered 
my soul from the lowest hell.” 


THE late J. H. Evans, of St. John’s Chapel, London, was 
in early youth a student of Wadham College, Oxford. 
This College was notorious as gay and dissolute, and the 
men there sought every means to destroy young Evans. 
Speaking after the manner of men, their success was 
certain; but God did not leave him to himself. Conscience 
was not silent, and in the midst of the most hilarious 
scenes, it told him that this was not true happiness; and 
he has been heard to tell in after life, that when the last 
reveller of the jovial party had left, he has often looked 
round on the vacant seats and empty glasses, laid his head 
upon the table, and wept bitterly. A great check applied 
to him to keep him from open sin was the power of a 
mother’s love. Once, led on by designing companions, he 
was induced to enter a place of peculiar temptation; but 
the thought of his mother’s distress darted into his mind, 
and filled him with indescribable awe. He rushed from 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 131 


the house, and neither raillery nor entreaty could ever lead 
him again into similar temptation. In late life he spent 
some hours in Oxford, and went over his old College, and 
sitting in Wadham Gardens, he dwelt on the scenes he had 
passed through, and at length, with deep emotion, repeated 
the text, “Great is Thy mercy towards me: and Thou hast 
delivered my soul from the lowest hell.” 


CCXXVI. Never betoo Tired to Pray. Ps. Ixxxviii. 9. 
“Tord, I have called daily upon Thee, I have stretched out my 
hands unto Thee.” 


A MUSSULMAN, when on a journey, was joined by a 
Hindu, and the two marched on together till darkness 
overtook them. Passing the night at some halting-place, 
they resumed their journey on the morrow, travelled in 
company till the day wore away, and again halted for the 
night. The Hindu, as was his custom, said his prayers, 
then took his meal, and lay down to rest. In the early 
morning he arose, washed his hands and face, performed 
his devotions, and was ready to start. But he had not 
seen his companion the Mussulman engaged in any act of 
devotion for the two days they had been together, and at 
this he wondered greatly. Wishful to ascertain the truth 
of the matter, he waited for a third night, and watched 
him closely, but saw and heard nothing of the Mussulman’s 
prayers. 

At length, addressing his fellow-traveller, he said: “Oh, 
Mussulman, what kind of conduct is this of yours? Do 
you not worship God day or night ?” 

The Moor answered, “ Yes, it is binding on Mussulmans 
to worship God five times a day.” 

“Then,” said the Hindu, “ what sort of Mussulman are 
you? For three days I have not seen you say your 
prayers.” 

“What can I do?” answered the Moor. “Iam march- 
ing along all day, and am so tired that I cannot pray.” 

“ But,” asked the Hindu, “are you too tired to eat twice 
aday? If you are too weary to serve God, your Maker 
and Provider, I am afraid to journey in your company. 
To look in the face of a man like you in the early morning, 
will bring some calamity or other upon me. For whoever 


132 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


is too listless to serve God, will sooner or later be visited 
by some misfortune.” 

Was not this heathen Hindu traveller wiser than many 
who bear the Christian name? Let us learn from him that 
we must xever be too tired to pray. 


CCXXVII. “I have called Thee Father.” Ps. Ixxxix. 
26. ‘‘ He shall cry unto Me, Thou art my Father, my God, 
and the Rock of my Salvation.” 


JOHN WOOLMAN, on an errand of mercy, was struck down 
by the plague, and he suffered protracted agonies. 

“In my great misery,” he cried on the third day, “I 
remember that I have called Thee Father.” After that he 
had great stillness and peace. Some of his descendants 
still preserve a manuscript record, kept by the godly 
friends who nursed him, of his prayers and broken words 
as he passed through the last days of torture. They are 
simple and tender as a child talking to a father in the 
dark. The weak body yielded at last, and John Woolman 
was “at home.” 


CCXXVIII. God the Father Almighty. Ps. Ixxxix. 
26. “Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my 
Salvation.” 


LUTHER was one day catechising some country people in 
a village in Saxony. When one of the men had repeated 
these words, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” 
Luther asked him what was the meaning of “ Almighty.” 
The countryman honestly replied, “I do not know.” “Nor 
do I know,” said the catechist; “nor do all the learned 
men in the world know. However, you may safely believe 
that God is your Father, and that He is both able and 
willing to save and protect yourself and all your neighbours. 
Almighty God is the lovely Father of mankind.” 


CCXXIX. “An Hour or two sooner to Bed.” 
Ps. xc. 12. “So teach us to number our days, that we may 
apply our hearts unto wisdom.” 


THE following is a letter from Robert Leighton to his 
brother-in-law, Edward Lightmaker, a “word of comfort’ 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 133 


on the death of a dear son; and it reveals the warmth and 
tenderness of the saintly man. When his brother-in-law 
died, Leighton said, as he returned from his funeral, “ Fain 
would I have thrown myself into the grave with him.” 

“T am glad of your health and recovery of your little 
ones; but indeed it was a sharp stroke of a pen that told 
me your pretty Johnny was dead; and I felt it truly more 
than, to my remembrance, I did the death of any child in 
my lifetime. Sweet thing, and is he so quickly laid to 
sleep? Happy he! Though we shall have no more the 
pleasure of his lisping and laughing, he shall have no more 
the pain of crying, nor of being sick, nor of dying; and 
hath wholly escaped the trouble of schooling and all the 
sufferings of boys, and the riper and deeper griefs of riper 
years ; this poor life being all along nothing but a linked 
chain of many sorrows and many deaths. Tell my dear 
sister she is now much more akin to the other world; and 
this will quickly be passed to us all. John is but gone an. 
hour or two sooner to bed, as children use to do, and we 
are undressing to follow. And the more we put off the 
love of this present world and all things superfluous be- 
forehand, we shall have the less to do when we lie down.” 


CCXXX. Hidden and Safe. Ps. xci 1. “Ze that 
adwelleth tn the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under 
the shadow of the Almighty.” 


ONE morning a teacher went, as usual, to the schoolroom, 
and found many vacant seats. Two little scholars lay at 
their homes cold in death, and others were very sick. A 
fatal disease had entered the village, and the few children 
present that morning at school gathered around the 
teacher, and said, “Oh, what shall we do? Do you think 
we shall be sick, and die too?” 

She gently touched the bell as a signal for silence, and 
observed, “Children, you are all afraid of this terrible 
disease. You mourn for the death of our dear little 
friends ; and you fear that you may be taken also. I only 
know of one way of escape, and ¢hat zs to hide.” 

The children were bewildered, and the teacher went on: 
“T will read to you about this hiding-place,” and read 
Psalm xci.:; “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the 


134 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” 
All were hushed and composed by the sweet words of 
the Psalmist, and the morning lessons went on as usual, 

At noon a dear little girl sidled up to the desk and said, 
“Teacher, are you not afraid of the diphtheria?” 

“No, my child,” she answered. 

“Well, wouldn’t you be if you thought you would be 
sick and die?” 

“No, my dear, I trust not.” 

Looking at the teacher for a moment with wondering 
eyes, her face lighted, as she said, “Oh, I know! you are 
hidden under God’s wings. What a nice place to hide!” 

Yes, this is the only true hiding-place for old, for young, 
for rich, for poor—for all. 

Do any of you know of a safer or a better? 


CCXXXI. The Lord a Sanctuary. Ps.xci.2. “J wil 
say of the Lord, He is my refuge.” 


A HEATHEN could say, when a bird (feared by a hawk) 
flew into his bosom, “I will not betray thee unto thine 
enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me.” How 
much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy, when 
it takes sanctuary in His Name, saying, “Lord, I am 
hunted with such a temptation, dogged with such a lust ; 
either Thou must pardon it, or | am damned; mortify it, 
or I shall be a slave to it; take me into the bosom of Thy 
love, for Christ's sake ; castle me in the arms of Thy ever- 
lasting strength; it isin Thy power to save me from, or 
give me up into, the hands of my enemy; I have no con- 
fidence in myself or any other ; into Thy hands I commit 
my cause, my life, and rely on Thee.” This dependence 
of a soul undoubtedly will awaken the almighty power of 
God for such a one’s defence: He hath sworn the greatest 
oath that can come out of His blessed lips, even by 
Himself, that such as “flee for refuge” to hope in Him 
shall have “strong consolation.” 


CCXXXII. Heavenwards. Ps. xci.15. “He shall call upon 
Me, and I will answer hin: I will be with him in trouble: 1 
will deliver him, and honour him.” 


A PLEASURE party, made up of a family and some friends, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 135 


put out in a small boat to an island a little distance off. 
After staying awhile there, they all put out a short distance 
seaward, with the exception of one lady and the boatman’s 
little boy. A sudden dense fog shortly afterwards fell, 
and the boat tried in vain to make its way back to the 
island. After beating about for hours, they were almost 
despairing, when they thought they heard the faint echoes 
of a childish voice calling something. Listening intently, 
the father’s quick ear recognised the voice of his boy 
calling, “Steer this way, father; steer this way.” Guided 
by the sound of the voice, the father soon locked his boy 
in his arms, and the whole party rejoiced in deliverance 
from their peril. 

A father and mother, whilst visiting friends in England, 
heard of the death of their only daughter, in New York. 
Bitter indeed was the cup, and yet amid the fogs of afilic- 
tion and bereavement the voice of the angel-child calls 
from the battlements of the jasper walls, “ Steer this way, 
father; steer this way.” And following the well-known 
voice, they expect to lay down the oars of life, and embrace 
their child on the shores of that glorious land where storms 
never rise and fogs never fall. 


CCXXXIII. A Prophecy Fulfilled. Ps. xciv.2. “Zi 
up Thyself, Thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the 


proud.” 


Mr. NORMAN, a Nonconformist minister, was brought 
before Judge Foster for trial at Taunton Castle. Joseph 
Alleine was tried at the same time and place. The judge 
treated him very roughly, and poured unmeasured contempt 
on other Nonconformist ministers. Mr. Norman “with 
great gravity told him that their learned education in the 
university, and holy calling in the ministry, not stained 
with any unworthy action, merited good words from his 
lordship, and better usage from the world.” This simply 
enraged the judge, and after another tempest of inyective, 
the prisoner said, “Sir, you must ere long appear before a 
greater Judge, to give an account of your actions, and for 
your railing on me, the servant of that great Judge.” 
Perhaps Mr. Norman saw the shadow of coming death 
on the poor old judge's face; but when the judge died 


136 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


suddenly a month afterwards, people remembered these 
words, and called it a prophecy. 


CCXXXIV. Silence. Ps.xciv.17. “ My soul had almost 
dwelt in silence.” 


HENRY PERREYOE, in a letter to a friend, describes with 
astonishment the life of the Bernardine Sisters, whom he 
had visited in their convent, a life unequalled for the rigour 
of its discipline, even in the Church of Rome. The 
Bernardines give their time to the direction of faller 
women who have repented, and whose highest reward is 
to become Bernardines themselves at last. They live 
amongst the dreary deserts of sand that stretch along 
the southern coasts of France, like the first anchorites in 
the deserts of Africa. They eat black bread, drink water, 
and xever speak—never. A sister of Chartreux may speak 
once in every week, a Bernardine is silent as the dead. 


CCXXXV. Neptune’s Cup. Ps. xcv.5. “Zhe sea is 
His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.” 


THE Rev. Joseph Cook, in one of his lectures, spoke of 
the difficulty of believing in a world without a directing 
Mind, and used the following beautiful illustration :— 
“Almost imperceptible creatures in the sea build in the 
Indian Ocean a goblet. It is called ‘Neptune’s cup.’ 
Sometimes it has a height of six feet and a breadth of 
three. It is erected solely by myriads of polypi. They 
have no consultation with each other. Each works in 
a separate cell; each is as much cut off from communica- 
tion with every other as an inmate of a cell in the wards 
of Charlestown prison yonder is from his associates. They 
build the stem to the proper height, and then they begin 
to widen it. Everything proceeds according to a plan. 
Is the plan theirs, or does it belong to a Power above 
them, and that acts through them? As these isolated 
creatures build Neptune’s cup, so the bioplasts, isolated 
from each other in the living tissues which they produce, 
build the rose and the violet and all flowers, the pome- 
granate and the cedar, the oak and palm and all trees, the 
eagle and all birds, the lion and all animals, the human 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 137 


brain and all men. Neptune’s cup alone strikes us dumb. 
But what shall we say of the mystic structures built by 
the bioplasts? There is the cup; it is a fact; and the eye 
is another Neptune’s cup; and the hand another Neptune’s 
cup; and all this universe is another Neptune’s cup: and 
out of such cups I, for one, drink the glad wine of Theism !” 


CCXXXVI. Deadness of Heart. Ps. xcev. 7, & 
“ To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” 


AN intelligent and excellent minister was once called to 
visit a man then, on his deathbed, who had been for many 
years engaged in the African slave-trade. He had been a 
commander of a swift and successful ship, but had been 
_ often compelled to throw his poor captives to the sharks 
and the sea to save his vessel from the cruisers, or to 
lighten it in the storm ; and had passed through the various 
terrible scenes incident to the prosecution of that infamous 
traffic. And now he was dying, in the full maturity of his 
powers, and in the midst, if we remember rightly, of 
pecuniary prosperity and social comfort. The minister 
spoke to him of repentance. ‘‘ Repentance!” was his 
reply, “I cannot repent! You have seen many sorts of 
men, sir, and perhaps you think you have seen the most 
wicked and desperate among them. But I tell you that 
you do not know anything about an African slave-trader. 
His heart is dead. Why, sir, I know perfectly well—I 
understand it fully—that I shall die in spite of everything ; 
and I know that I shall goto hell. There is no possible 
salvation for me. It is perfectly zmpossible but that I shall 
be damned. And yet it don’t move me in the least. I 
am just as indifferent to it as ever I was in my life.” And 
so he died, with despair perfected into insensibility and 
DEATH, the very fires of Divine wrath, as they flashed 
upon his face, not starting a sigh or a pulse of emotion 
His heart was “DEAD!” 

It is fearful to think that in all sin lies the tendency to 
just such spiritual death. When it is ripened and finished, 
it brings it forth, one sin leading to another, and that to 
another, and these to others, and moral insensibility com- 
ing in upon the soul, and all crimes becoming possible to 
it, and perfect despair, and the deadness of al] affection 


138 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 

and hope at last engulfing it—a deadness to be terribly 
consummated and rewarded hereafter, amid the gloom of 
the future, and beneath the punishments of God. There is 
an old fable of a man who fell asleep in a Grecian cavern ; 


and the drops from above continually falling upon him, — 


turned him, particle by particle, into coldness and rock; 
and though the soul still lived, it could not use or move 
the body. And so the influences of little sins, dropping on 
us continually, the influences even of the mere worldliness 


that is all about and over us, except they be resisted, © 


will at last petrify the spirit. They harden it to all but 


the consciousness of loss, and the agony of remorse. They — 


may leave it sensible of duty, aware of doom, but uzad/e 
to flee from it. 


CCXXXVII. The Pilgrim Fathers. Ps.c 1. “Make 


a joful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.” 


LET us look into the magic mirror of the past, and see the 
harbour of Cape Cod on the morning of the 11th of No- 
vember, in the year of our Lord 1620, as described to us in 
the simple words of the Pilgrims: “A pleasant bay, circled 
round, except the entrance, which is about four miles over 
from land to land, compassed about to the very sea with 
oaks, pines, junipers, sassafras, and other sweet weeds. It 
is a harbour wherein a thousand sail of ship may safely 
tide.” 

That small, unknown ship was the MMZayflower: those 
men and women who crowded her decks were that little 
handful of God’s own wheat which had been flailed by 
adversity, tossed and winnowed till every husk of earthly 
selfishness and self-will had been beaten away from them 
and left only pure seed, fit for the planting of a new world. 
It was old Master Cotton Mather who said of them, “ The 
Lord sifted three countries to find seed wherewith to plant 
America.” 

Hark now the hearty cry of the sailors, as with a plash 
and a cheer the anchor goes down, just in the deep water 
inside of Long Point ! and then, says their journal: “ Being 
now passed the vast ocean and sea of troubles, before their 
Preparation unto further proceedings as to seek out a place 
for habitation, they fell down on their knees and blessed 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 139 


the Lord, the God of heaven, who had brought them over 
the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all 
perils and miseries thereof.” 

Let us draw nigh and mingle with this singular act 
of worship. Elder Brewster, with his well-worn Geneva 
Bible in hand, leads the thanksgiving in words which, 
though thousands of years old, seem as if written for the 
occasion of that hour. 

As yet, the treasures of sacred song which are the liturgy 
of modern Christians had not arisen in the Church. There 
was no Watts and no Wesley in the day of the Pilgrims ; 
they brought with them in each family, as the most precious 
of earthly possessions, a thick volume containing, first, the 
Book of Common Prayer, with the Psalter appointed to be 
read in churches ; second, the whole Bible in the Geneva 
translation, which was the basis on which our present 
English translation was made; and third, the Psalms of 
David, in metre, by Sternhold and Hopkins, with the 


“music notes of the tunes adapted to singing. Therefore it 


was that our little band were able to lift up their voices 
together in song, and that the noble tones of Old Hundred 
for the first time floated over the silent bay and mingled 
with the sound of winds and waters, consecrating the 
American shores. 


“ All people that on earth do dwell, 
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice, 
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell ; 
Come ye before Him and rejoice. 


The Lord, ye know, is God indeed ; 
Without our aid He did us make; 

We are His flock, He doth us feed, 
And for His sheep He doth us take. 


O enter then His gates with praise, 
Approach with joy His courts unto: 
Praise, laud, and bless His name always, 

For it is seemly so to do. 


For why? The Lord our God is good, 
His mercy is for ever sure ; 

His truth at all times firmly stood, 
And shall from age to age endure.” 


This grand hymn rose and swelled and vibrated in the 
still November air; while in between its pauses came the 


140 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


warble of birds, the scream of the jay, the hoarse call of 
hawk and eagle, going on with their forest ways all un- 
mindful of the new era which had been ushered in with 
those solemn sounds. 


CCXXXVIII. Signs of Death. Ps. cii. 20. “Zo hear 
the groaning of the prisoner.” 


A MAN was in great distress about his soul ; he thought he 
was lost, could never be saved, and he was in despair. He 
set off to a good old Christian who lived in the town, and 
told him all his heart, and finished with these words: 
“ Now, David, I’m dead—quite dead.” “Well, Jamie,” said 
the old man, “ go away home and pray. Ye’re no dead yet. 
No, no; there’s nae groans comes frae the grave.” 

Groans over deadness and coldness felt are not alto- 
gether signs of death. 


CCXXXIX. A Martyr for Christ. Ps. cili. 1. “ Bless 
the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His 
holy name.” 


DuRING the persecution in the reign of Queen Mary, one 
of the martyrs was fastened with a chain toa post in the 
Smithfield Market of London, and when the wood piled 
about him was lighted, and the fire burning his clothes and 
frizzling his flesh, he cried, “ Bless the Lord, O my soul: 
and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” 


CCXL. Blessing the Lord in the Depth 
of Sorrow. Ps. ciii. 1. “ Bless the Lord, O my soul. 
and all that ts within me, bless His holy name.” 


THE value and beauty of family worship in the time of be- 
reavement are illustrated by an incident in the life of the 
Rev. J. A. James, which has almost a touch of the sublime. 
It was his custom to read at family prayer on Saturday 
evening the hundred and third psalm. On the Saturday 
of the week in which Mrs. James died, he hesitated, witn 
the epen Bible in his hand, before he began to read ; but, 
after a moment’s silence, he looked up and said, “ Not- 
withstanding what has happened this week, I see no reason 
for departing from our usual custom of reading the hundred 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 141 


and third psalm—‘ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that 
is within me, bless His holy name.’” What must be the 
effect upon a household of such a scene! What a picture 
is thus presented of holy resignation and thankfulness— 
the greatest sufferer recognising, as the head of the family, 
the hand that has smitten his home and made it desolate, 
and in the depth of his sorrow blessing the name of the 
Lord! 


CCXLI. Grace should Permeate the Entire 
Man. Ps. ciii.1. ‘Ad that ts within me, bless His holy 
name.” 


IN the camphor tree every part is impregnated with the 
precious perfume; from the highest twig to the lowest 
root the powerful gum will exude. Thus grace should 
permeate our whole nature, and be seen in every faculty, 
every word, every act, and even every desire. If it be “in 
us and abound,” it will be so. An unsanctified part of our 
frame must surely be like a dead branch; deforming and 
injuring the tree. ‘ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and ad) 
that is within me, bless His holy name.’ When praise is 
truly spiritual, it pervades the whole man. 


CCXLII. Old Age. Ps. ciii.5. “ Who satisfieth thy mouth 
with good things ; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.” 


JOHN FosTER has a stirring passage in one of his sermons 
on old age :— 

“The old age of the wise and good resembles the wintei 
in one of its most favourable circumstances, that the former 
seasons improved have laid in a valuable store; and they 
have to bless God that disposed and enabled them to do 
‘so. But the most striking point in the comparison, after 
all, is one of un/zkeness. Their winter has no spring to 
follow it—in this world. It isto close, not by an insensible 
progression into summer season, but by a termination 
absolute, abrupt, and final; a consideration which should 
shake and rouse the most inveterate insensibility of 
thoughtless old age. But the servants of God will say: 
* That is well!’ They would not make a gradation into 
a spring of moral existence if it could be put in their 


142 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 
cheice. Their winter, they say, is quite the right time for 
a great transition. It was in nature’s winter (or toward 
that season) that their Lord came to the earth; it was in 
the winter that He died for their redemption; and the 
winter of their life is the right time for them to die, that 
their redemption may be finished. And there is eternal 
spring before them! What will ¢#ey not be contemplating 
of beauty and glory, while those who have yet many days 
on earth are seeing returning springs and summers ?” 


CCXLIII. A Lover of the Psalms. Ps. civ. 34 
“ My meditation of Him shall be sweet.” 


THOMAS A KEMPIS was supremely happy in his convent 
life. He spent much time in striving to soar above the 
things of sense into communion with God; and this not 
without the occasional application to his flesh of the scourge. 
He could not have survived, however, to the great age of 
ninety-one, if his bodily mortifications had been fanatical 
and excessive. The Holy Scripture was much in use by 
him, and he transcribed it from beginning to end, in four 
beautifully written volumes, which were long preserved 
in the monastery, as a memorial of his pious diligence. 
Especially did he love the Psalms, and join in chanting 
them with all his heart. His fellow monks, accordingly, 
perpetrated a miserable joke upon him, which is preserved, 
by honest Franciscus, to the honour certainly of Thomas 
a Kempis, and to the letting in of a curious light on 
the character and tastes of his companions at Mount 
St. Agnes, which were plainly of an earthlier sort. “ He 
is as fond of the Psalms,’ they said, “as if they were 
salmon,’ which, as Brother Franciscus adds within brackets 
for the information of the ignorant reader, “is a most 
delicate kind of fish!” Brother Franciscus says that 
there existed in his time a portrait of Thomas a Kempis, 
almost wholly effaced from the canvas, but with this 
characteristic inscription legible still, “‘ Everywhere have I 
sought rest but nowhere have I found it, unless in solitude 
and books (zz Hoexkens ende Boexkens.)’ He found it 
there, because in his solitude and among his books, he 
found and communed with the Lord, in whom he rested, 
on whom he meditated, and of whom he wrote. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 143 


CCXLIV. A Patriot. Ps. ev. 26. “He sent Moses his 
servant.” 


PRESENTING a noble contrast to the proverb long common 
in Italy, Dolce far niente, “It is sweet to indulge in idle- 
ness,’ the old Roman sang, Dulce et decorum pro patria 
mort, “It is sweet and graceful to die for one’s country;” 
_and one of these old Romans is said, when it was only by such 
a sacrifice that Rome could be spared, to have rode out of 
its gates full armed in sight of weeping thousands, and 
taking brave farewell of brothers, friends, and countrymen, to 
have spurred his steed into the gulf that closed its mon- 
strous jaws on horse and rider. The lofty patriotism of 
the poet may be only the sentimentalism of song, and the 
hero of the gulf only such a fable as adorns traditionary 
lore. But Moses was a patriot of that type. 

How we extolled the conduct of the Americans in China, 
when, though not bound to mingle in the bloody fray, 
they felt it impossible to look on, mere spectators, where 
our flag was flying, and our guns were flashing, and our 
men were falling amid the smoke of battle! ‘ Blood is 
thicker than water!” It was in such another act that 
Moses’ patriotism first burst out into flame. Neither his 
rank as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter and probable 
successor to her father’s throne, nor his education as a 
prince of Egypt, nor the pride, and pomp, and pleasures 
of a palace had made him ashamed of his race, or in- 
different to their cruel sufferings. Inthe words of St. Paul, 
“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to 
be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter ; choosing rather 
to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy 
the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach 
of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. 


CCXLV. A Besieged Town. Ps. cvii. 1. O give 
thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth 
Jor ever.” 


IN the year 1642 Taunton was besieged by the Royalist 
forces. It was defended by heroic steadfastness by Robert 
Blake. When food had risen to twenty times its market- 
value, when many of the inhabitants had died of starvation, 
when half the streets had been burnt down by a storm of 


144 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


rockets and mortars, the defenders still held their ground, 
and Blake announced to the besiegers his grim resolve 
not to surrender “until he had eaten his boots.” At last, in 
July, 1645, the besiegers were obliged to withdraw. Many 
sermons were preached on the occasion of the anniversary 
of the town’s deliverance. In one preached before Par- 
liament, the preacher said :— 


“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious: and His mercy 
endureth for ever: 

Who remembered us at Naseby, for His mercy endureth for ever; 

Who remembered us in Pembrokeshire, for His mercy endureth for 
ever ; 

Who remembered us at Taunton, for His mercy endureth for ever.” 


CCXLVI. The Pale Horse. Ps. cvii. 18. TZhey draw 


near unto the gates of death.” 


THE following is a closing passage of a sermon on death 
by Dawson. The preacher has been speaking of those to 
whom the blow of the rider on the pale horse brings no 
terror. The Christian sees his Father’s servant on his 
Father’s pale horse, and he knows he has been sent for to 
come home. And he closed his sermon with this passage: 
“T well remember the time when the pale horse and his 
rider approached Sammy Hick, ‘the village blacksmith,’ 
He was nearer to him than I thought him to be. I was 
with him on the Wednesday, and he died upon the Monday. 
The pale horse overtook him on the Monday. There was 
a young man said on Sunday night (he did not sleep with 
him, but watched with him) that such a night he did not 
expect to see again. They were singing and praising God ; 
and he said the place seemed filled with the glory of God. 
The pale horse and his rider approached, and poor 
Sammy’s speech began to falter and his breath to fail. 
But, glory be to God, he was not afraid of seeing the pale 
horse at all. No; it was joy, and peace, and love. Twoor 
three neighbours came in, and thought they would sing 
him over the river. And when all the power of language 
failed, 
‘Joy beaming through his eyes did break, 
And meant the thanks he could not speak.’ 


They saw his eyes sparkle; they saw the joy of his soul 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. — T4t 


as he went along, and the thanks he could not speak. 
And just before he took his last step out of time into 
glory, the poor soldier waved his hand, crying, “ Victory! 
victory !’” 


CCXLVII. The little Ships and the great Sea. 
Ps cvii. 23. “Zhey that go down to the sea in ships, that da 
business in great waters.” 


THE following is the prayer of the Breton fishers: “Mon 
Dieu, protégez moi—mon navire est si petit, et votre mer 
est si grande ” (My God, protect me—my ship is so little 
and Your sea is so great.) 


O God ! my ship is small, Thy sea so wide, 
How shall I sail across in bark so frail ? 
What may my oars against its waves avail, 
Or can I ever reach the farther side, 

If any shore bound that unmeasured tide? 
O endless waves ! O feeble quivering sail ! 
O great Eternity ! I faint and fail, 

And dare not go, and may not here abide : 
My bark drives on, whither I do not know. 
My God ! remember me, that I am dust— 
The way is too far for me, when I go; 

Yet will I leave the land and trembling trust. 
Thou who didst walk on stormy Galilee, 
Let me not sink in Thine unfathomed sea ! 


CCXLVIII. Timely Succour. Ps. cvii. 43. “ Whoso 
ts wise, and will observe these things, even they shall under- 
stand the lovingkindness of the Lord.” 


SCOTT, the commentator, suffered from frequent attacks 
of illness, and after one long and dangerous sickness, 
which had occasioned heavy additional expenses, he found 
himself in debt to the amount of £10. His wife, though 
seldom distrusting Providence, lamented this exceedingly. 
His answer was the following: “Now observe if the Lord 
do not, in some way, send us an additional supply to meet 
this expense, which it was not in our power to avoid.” He 
goes on to relate how, in the afternoon of the same day, 
when visiting his people, Mr. Higgins called at his house, 
and left a paper, which, he said, would entitle me to £10 
from the sum of money left for the relief of poor clergy- 
men, This relief he had never before received. ‘“ Whoso 
L 


146 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


— 


is wise will ponder these things, and they shall understand 
the lovingkindness of the Lord.” 


CCXLIX. The 119th Psalm. Ps cxix. 


Jolin RUSKIN says that of all the pieces of the Bible 
which his mother taught him, that which cost him most to 
learn, and which was to his child’s mind chiefly repulsive— 
the 119th Psalm—has now become of all the most precious 
to him, in its overflowing and glorious passion of love for 
the law of God. 


CCL. Don’t use a Crooked Ruler. Ps. cxix. 9. 
“ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking 
heed thereto according to Thy word.” 


“THE Bible is so strict and old-fashioned,” said a young 
man to a grey-haired friend, who was advising him to 
study God’s Word if he would learn how to live. “There 
are plenty of books written now-a-days that are moral 
enough in their teaching, and do not bind one down as the 
Bible.” 

The old merchant turned to his desk, and took out two 
rulers, one of which was slightly bent. With each of 
these he ruled a line, and silently handed the ruled paper 
to his companion. 

“Well,” said the lad, “what do you mean?” 

“One line is not straight and true, is it? When you 
mark out your path in life do not take a crooked ruler!” 


CCLI. Hiding the Bible in the Heart. Ps. cxix. 
11. “Zhy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not 
sin against Thee.” 


THE late excellent Rev. Dr. James W. Alexander was, 
in many respects, a model Christian man and minister. 
One important secret of it lay in some of his habits. One 
of these was that of taking, every morning, a verse or 
passage from the Bible for his meditation during the day, 
and with the view, he said, of having his entire life filled 
with its spirit and influence. David said to God: “ Thy 
word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against 


Thee.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 147 


CCLII. Pulpit Reflectors. Ps. cxix. 46. “JZ will 
speak of Thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be 
ashamed.” 


THE eminent Lyman Beecher used to say that the reason 
why his ministry was so blessed to the salvation of men, 
was that he had so many pulpit reflectors in the Christians 
who lived out and diffused in every practical way the 
gospel which he proclaimed. A light placed alone scatters 
its beams on every hand, but a number of well-placed 
reflectors can concentrate and reflect its rays, and cause 
them to reach places where the direct rays of light would 
never go ; so these pulpit reflectors, these Christians who 
take the gospel up in their lives, and who talk it, and act 
it, and live it from day to day, multiply the preacher’s 
usefulness a hundredfold, and carry down into the deep 
and hidden corners, where sin and darkness lurk, those 
beams of light which, without their aid, would never reach 
the souls that sit in the shadow of death. 

We need more pulpit reflectors. Let the ministers of 
the gospel preach with all fidelity, and then let the 
Christians on every hand take up the words of life which 
he proclaims, and reflect and re-echo them, and bear them 
to the souls which walk in darkness, and yet long to 
behold God’s marvellous light, even the light of the know- 
ledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. 


CCLIII. About to Migrate. Ps. cxix. 54. “Zhe 

house of my pilgrimage.” 
WE are told that the late authoress Juliana Horatia 
Ewing had hung over her hearth the motto: “ Ut migra- 
turus habita” (As one about to migrate), to temper her 
joys in the comforts of home, and to remind her that 
“here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to 
come,” 


CCLIV. The Decision of a Moment. Ps. cxix. 
59. “I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto Thy 
testimonies.” 


AT an unlooked-for moment we may decide the whole 
course of our lives settling the question of for Christ or 


148 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


against Christ. A young man in Oakland, Cal. was 
walking with a friend. “Let’s go to a saloon,” said the 
friend. Just then the young man looked up and saw on 
a sign, “ Young Men’s Christian Association.” “No, I'll 
go up here,” was the reply. “Oh, you baby!” sneered 
his companion ; but he went up, and that step led to his 
giving himself to God and entering on the Christian life. 
But how about him who kept on his way in the life of 
sin? 


CCLV. The Mellowing Power of Affliction. 
Ps. cxix. 83. “ For Lam become like a bottle in the smoke.” 


IT was a custom of the ancients to hang skins of wine 
in the smoke of a fire to refine and mellow it by the 
warmth, and so the sooner to bring it to perfection. So 
the Psalmist says “that is what God has put me in the 
furnace of trial for, to refine me.” 


CCLVI. Persecution. Ps. cxix. 86. “ They persecute 
me wrongfully ; help Thou me.” 


THE pious Romaine, the well-known author of the 
“Triumph of Faith,” suffered much for the truth’s sake. 
What a picture is presented of the solitary witness of 
the truth, when we are told that, in his own Church of St. 
Dunstan’s at Aberford, he had often to preach by the light 
of a single candle, which he held in his hand, as the church- 
wardens would neither light the church nor suffer it to be 
lighted ! 


CCLVII. “The Fulness of the Scriptures.” 
Ps. cxix. 97. “ O how love 1 Thy law/ it ts my meditation 
all the day.” ‘s 


“JT ADORE the fulness of the Scriptures,” was the exclama- 
tion of Tertullian,—‘in which posture of holy admira- 
tion,” said Dr. Owen, “I desire my mind may be found 
while I am in this world.” 

“What do I not owe to the Lord,” writes Henry 
Martyn, “for permitting me to take a part in the transla- 
tion of His word? Never did I see such wonders, and 
wisdom, and love, in the blessed book, as since I have 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 149 


been obliged to study every expression; and it is a de- 
lightful reflection, that death cannot deprive us of the 
pleasure of studying its mysteries.” 

The same testimony was given by a kindred spirit 
employed in the same work. Shortly before his death, 
Dr. Buchanan, giving to a friend some details of his 
laborious revisions of his Syriac Testament, suddenly 
stopped, and burst into tears. On recovering himself he 
said, “I am not ill, but I was completely overcome with 
the recollection of the delight which I have enjoyed in this 
exercise. At first I was disposed to shrink from the task 
as irksome, and apprehended that I should find even the 
Scriptures pall by the frequency of this critical examina- 
tion. But so far from it, every fresh perusal seemed to 
throw fresh light on the word of God, and to convey 
additional joy and consolation to my mind.” “How 
delightful,” observes his biographer, “is the contemplation 
of a servant of Christ thus devoutly engaged in his 
heavenly Master’s work, almost to the very moment of 
his transition to the Divine source of light and truth 
dtseli 1)” 


CCLVIII. A Heathen Convert and his Bible. 
Ps. cxix. 97. “‘ O how love I Thy law.” 


AN aged convert from heathenism, a native of one of the 
Hervey Islands, some years ago received as a present a 
copy of the Bible. A few pages or chapters only had 
been given him before this, and he was greatly pleased in 
becoming the owner of the volume. After receiving it, he 
said, “ My brethren and sisters, this is my resolve: The 
dust shall never cover my new Bible; the moth shall 
never eat it; the mildew shall not rot it. My light! My 


joy!” 
CCLIX. A Surety. Ps. cxix. 122. “Be surety for Thy 


servant for good.” 


For many months James Sherman, who became the famed 
minister of Surrey Chapel, London, was in great darkness, 
inquiring and seeking after God. He says, “Day by day 
I read the Scriptures, to see if God spake to me by His 
promise, but no promise brought me relief.” But after 


150 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


twelve months of wrestling and seeking, the day of 
deliverance came. Mr. King, of Doncaster, came to 
preach at Tottenham Court-road Chapel, and Sherman 
went to hear him. “All the way,” he says, “I watered 
the pavement with my tears, and sent up my cries te 
Heaven. I heard him with emotion and some pleasure, 
yet my faith did not seem sufficiently strong to bring 
home to myself the blessing. I bent my steps homeward, 
but, as I was crossing from Bedford Street to Montague 
Place, I seemed to hear a voice saying to me, ‘I am thy 
surety. I turned round involuntarily, half imagining that 
some one was speaking tome. After a moment's pause, I 
said to myself, ‘It is the voice of my Saviour. And a 
flood of light was poured into the prison-house of my poor 
soul, and at once converted it into the temple of God.” 


CCLX. Dissatisfied with Myself. Ps. cxix. 130. 
“ The entrance of Thy words giveth light.” 


ONE of the neatest of the neat compliments for which Louis 
XIV. was famous was addressed to Massillon, the famous 
Court preacher: “ Father,” said the King, “I have listened 
in my chapel to many great preachers, and I have been 
very well satisfied with them ; but as often as I hear you, 
I am very ill-satisfied with myself.” 


CCLXI. A Japanese Convert. Ps. cxix. 130. “ Zhe 
entrance of Thy words giveth light.” 


Srx Japanese girls were sent over to America to be 
educated. One of them took a situation as governess in 
a family, where she read the English Bible. She wrote 
under deep conviction to her father, urging him to procure 
a copy of the Bible and read it. He, thinking it was a 
whim of his child, dismissed the subject from his mind, 
and destroyed the letter. This was ten years ago. Some 
seven years later he went as Commissioner for Japan to 
the Austrian Exhibition. There he saw the Bible Stand, 
and was impressed with wonder that so much should be 
made of any single book, and that it should be thought 
worth translating into so many languages. He purchased 
a copy in Chinese, and read it with curiosity. Curiosity 
deepened into interest, and by degrees he became convinced 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 1g1 


of the truth of all the Book taught. In his journey through 
Europe he made his own observations of the three pre- 
vailing forms of Christianity—the Romish, Greek, and 
Protestant faiths. He was satisfied that the last of these 
came nearest to the teaching and spirit of the Book itself. 
On his return to Yeddo he applied to the American 
missionaries for baptism. Hearing of the step he had 
taken, his daughter wrote to him from America to suggest 
that, as he had the means at his disposal, he should pur- 
chase a heathen temple for purposes of Christian worship. 
He did so, and in the temple thus purchased the Christian 
missionaries now meet for worship. 


CCLXII. A Peacemaker. Ps. cxx. 7. “J am for peace.” 


IT is said of the late Henry Venn Elliot, of Brighton, that 
he did everything heartily and with all his strength. He 
was very firm. Twice he put a stopto men fighting in the 
Streets, thrusting himself between the combatants and 
saying, “If you want to fight, fight me,” and he rebuked 
the crowds for encouraging the fights. “You call yourselves 
Christians,” he said, “and yet delight to see your fellow- 
creatures fighting like wild beasts! Do you not know your 
bodies were made for God’s service?” The mob dispersed 
at once. The home circle would never have known it 
from himself but spots of blood on his shirt betrayed 
the affair. 


CCLXIII. Home, Sweet Home! Ps. cxxii. 2. “Our 
Jeet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.” 


ONE night on the banks of the Potomac, as the Confederate 
and the Union armies lay opposite each other, the Union 
bands played, “The Star-spangled Banner,” “Hail, Colum- 
bia!” and other Union songs; and the Confederates in 
contest played “ Dixie,” and other pieces of their side. It 
seemed that each would play the other down. By-and-by 
a band struck up “ Home, Sweet Home!” The conflict 
ceased. The bands on the other side struck up, “ Home, 
Sweet Home!” and voices from opposite sides of the river 
joined the chorus, ‘“‘ There is no place like home.” 


152 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCLXIV. Durie’s Psalm. Ps. exxiv. 1-8. 


THIS is known in Scotland, in its second version and with 
its bold marching melody, as Durie’s Psalm. James Mel- 
ville, in his diary—date 1582—gives, in his own quaint way, 
an account of the incident which gave rise to the name, 
John Durie had been banished from his pulpit and from 
Edinburgh for his boldness of speech in criticising some of 
the acts of James VI., but the feeling in his favour was so 
strong that his sentence had to be reversed. The tune 
and the man can be best understood by giving James Mel- 
ville’s own words, spelling and all: “ Within few days after 
the petition of the nobility, Jhon Durie gat leave to ga 
haim to his ain flock of Edinbrugh: at whase returning 
there was a great concours of the haill toun, wha met him 
at the Nether Bow; and going up the street, with bare 
heads and loud voices, sang to the praise of God, and testi- 
fying of great joy and consolation, the 124 Psalm—‘ Now 
Israel may say, and that trewly’—, till heaven and earth 
resoundit. This noise, when the Duc (of Lennox) being 
in the toun, heard, and ludging in the Hiegate looked out 
and saw, he rave his beard for anger, and hasted him off the 
toun.” John Durie was a minister of mark in his time, 
and very popular with the citizens of Edinburgh. He was 
fearless and devout—a man of the people, and also a man 
of God; and the description of him is so graphic that it is 
worth giving: “ Jhone Durie was of small literature, but 
had seen and marked the warks of God in the first Refor- 
mation, and been a doer baith with toung and hand. He 
had been a diligent hearer of Mr. Knox, and observer of 
all his ways. He conceived the grounds of matters weil, 
and could utter them fully and manfully with a mighty 
spirit, voice, and action. The special gift I marked in him 
was holiness, and a daily, careful, continual walking with 
God in meditation and prayer. He was a verie gude 
fallow, and took delyt as his special comfort to have his 
table and house filled with the best men. These he would 
gladly hear, with them confer and talk, professing he was 
but a buik-bearer, and would fain learn of them; and 
getting the ground and light of knowledge in any gude 
point, then would he rejoice in God, praise and pray there- 
upon, and urge it with a clear and forcible exhortation in 
assembly and pulpit.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 153 


The learned and pious Dr. Tholuck, of Halle, used to tell 
an anecdote of the death-bed of his father-in-law. He had 
been once a Roman Catholic, and as it happens that, 
though the mind may have been entirely emancipated, 
sometimes the fear of dying without priestly absolution 
returns, his son-in-law asked him if he had any such feel- 
ing. He expressed his confidence in the great High 
Priest, and, giving his hand a wave of triumph, said,— 


“ Strick ist entzwei, und wir sind frei.” 


The words are from Luther’s version of this psalm, made in 
1525, corresponding to— 


“Broke are their nets, and thus escaped we.” 


The biographer of M‘Cheyne, giving an account of his 
death, says: “ Next day he continued, sunk in body and 
mind, till about the time when his people met for their 
usual evening prayer-meeting, when he requested to be 
left alone for half an hour. When his servant entered the 
room again, he exclaimed with a joyful voice, ‘My soul is 
escaped as a bird out of the snare of his fowler; the snare 
is broken, and I am escaped.’ His countenance, as he said 
this, bespoke inward peace ; and ever after he was observed 
to be happy.” 

Ver. 8. With this verse the French Protestant Church 
always begins its public worship—words which well become 
the children of the Huguenots. 


CCLXV. Interposition of Providence. Ps. cxxiv. 2. 
“Uf it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men 
rose up against us ; then they had swallowed us up quick, when 
their wrath was kindled against us.” 


ON one occasion, the Prince Condé and Admiral Coligny 
—the leaders of the Huguenot party—had been driven 
from their homes by their opponents, who had attempted 
cruelly to massacre them ; they took to flight accordingly, 
with their helpers and terrified families. “The Prince of 
Condé set out silently,” says Matthieu, an eye-witness of 
the events he narrates, “ but his situation touched all hearts 
with pity when they saw the first prince of the blood 
setting forward in the intensest heat, with his wife on the 


154 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


point of giving birth to a child, and three little children 
borne after them, followed by the now motherless family of 
Coligny, of whom only one was able to walk. The wife of 
D’Antelot, too, was there with her little girl only two years 
old, and several other ladies. The only escort for this 
troop of helpless women and children was one hundred 
and fifty soldiers, headed by two brave and affectionate 
fathers. 

“ They journeyed on as rapidly as possible, for their only 
hope of safety lay in crossing the Loire before they could 
be overtaken, and then seeking shelter in Rochelle; but 
the whole country was filled with hostile troops, and the 
bridges over the Loire were already occupied. They 
therefore determined to attempt a ford not commonly 
known, and arrived at it when the river, usually broad 
and furious, was so far diminished by the long drought 
that they crossed without difficulty, the prince carrying his 
youngest infant on his arm, clasped to his bosom. 

“Scarcely had they reached the southern bank, when, 
turning round, they discovered the cavalry of their enemies 
in full pursuit, crowding rapidly upon the opposite side. 

“An event now happened certainly very remarkable. 
Without any apparent cause, a sudden swell of waters came 
foaming and rushing down the stream, and in an instant 
filling the channel, rendered the ford impassable, and the 
defenceless company were thus rescued from the jaws of 
their destroyer. 

“Can we wonder that men taught to rest upon Provi- 
dence, and to discern the Almighty hand in the events of 
their agitated lives, should have regarded this as a signal 
interposition in their favour, and an undoubted sign that 
His arm was extended for their protection?” 


CCLXVI. Almost drowned. Ps. cxxiv. 4. “ Zhen the 


waters had overwhelmed us.” 


THE following anecdote relates to one of Mr. Wesley’s 
early visits into Cornwall: “I was born,” says old Peter 
Martin, “at Helstone, and baptized on the 12th of May 
1742. My wife is 94 years old; our united ages amount 
to 191 years. I have been sexton of this parish, Helstone, 
65 years. JT remember Mr. Wesley well. I first heard him 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 155 


preach in the street near our market-house 74 years ago. 
I have also seen him at Redruth, and had an adventure 
with him while I was ostler at the London Inn, then kept 
by Henry Pemberthy. Mr. Wesley came there one day 
in a carriage driven by his own servant, who, being un- 
acquainted with the road farther westward than Redruth, 
he obtained my master’s leave for me to drive him to St. 
Ives. We set out, and on our arrival at Hayle we found 
the sands between that place and St. Ives, over which we 
had to pass, overflown by the rising tide. On reaching the 
water’s edge, I hesitated to proceed, and advised Mr. Wesley 
of the danger of crossing ; and a captain of a vessel, seeing 
us stopping, came up and endeavoured to dissuade us from 
an undertaking so full of peril, but without effect. Mr. 
Wesley was resolved to go on; he said he had to preach 
at St. Ives at a certain hour, and that he must fulfil his 
appointment, and looking out of the carriage window, he 
called loudly to me, ‘Take the sea! take sea!’ Ina 
moment I dashed into the waves and was quickly involved 
in a world of waters. The horses were now swimming, and 
the carriage became overwhelmed with the tide, as its 
hinder wheels became not unfrequently merged into the 
deep pits and hollows in the sands. I struggled hard to 
Maintain my seat in the saddle, while the poor affrighted 
animals were snorting and rearing in the most terrific 
manner, and furiously plunging the opposing waves. At 
this awful crisis I heard Mr. Wesley’s voice. With diffi- 
culty I turned my head towards the carriage, and saw his 
long, white locks dripping the salt sea down the rugged 
furrows of his venerable countenance. He was looking 
calmly forth from the windows, undisturbed by the tumul- 
tuous war of the surrounding waters, or by the danger of 
his perilous situation. He hailed me by a tolerably loud 
voice, and asked, ‘What is your name, driver?’ I 
answered, ‘Peter.’ ‘Peter,’ said Mr. Wesley,—‘ Peter, fear 
not; you shall not sink.’ With vigorous spurring and 
whipping I again urged on the flagging horses, and at last 
got safely over ; but it was a miracle, as I shall always say. 
We continued our journey, and reached St. Ives without 
further hindrance.” 


556 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCLXVII. A Favourite Song of Scottish Refor- 
mation. Ps. cxxv. 1-5. 


THIS psalm used to be sung frequently in early Scottish 
Reformation times. The tune which accompanied it was 
“St. Andrew.” It was often sung, too, by the French 
Protestants, when hiding from the Dragonnades of Louis 
XIV., and fleeing to the frontiers for escape. Every verse, 
every word seems made for such emergencies. 


CCLXAVIII. A Sudden Death. Ps. cxxvi. 5. “ They 


that sow in tears shall reap in joy.” 


THIS was a favourite verse of Philip Henry, who used to 
say that weeping should not hinder sowing. His death 
was in accordance with it, It took place suddenly on the 
morning of a fast for public danger, when he was to have 
preached. Some wished to defer the service, but this text 
was quoted for going forward with it. His son Matthew 
Henry spoke from 2 Kings xiii. 20: “And Elisha died, 
. . . and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land.” 


CCLXIX. A Chosen Psalm of Catherine de 
Medici. Ps. cxxviii. 


ALONG with Psalms vi. and cxlii., this was chosen for her- 
self by Catherine de Medici. She could scarcely have 
selected any more unsuitable. 


CCLXX. Philip Henry. Ps. cxxviii. 2. “Blessed is 
every one that feareth the Lord: that walketh in His ways. 
for thou shalt eat the labours of thine hands; happy shalt 
thou be, and it shall be well with thee.” 


WHEN Philip Henry was settled at Worthenbury, he 
sought the hand of the only daughter and heiress of Mr. 
Matthews, of Broad Oak. The father demurred, saying 
that though Mr. Henry was an excellent preacher and a 
gentleman, yet he did not know from whence he came. 
“True,” said the daughter; “but I know where he is 
going, and I should like to go with him.” Mr. Henry 
records in his diary, long after, the happiness of the union, 
which was soon after consummated :—* April 26, 1860 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 157 


This day we have been married twenty years, in which 
time we have received of the Lord twenty thousand 
mercies—to God be glory!” Sometimes he writes—“ We 
have been so long married, and never reconciled, ze. there 
never was any occasion for it.” His advice to his children, 
with respect to their marriage, was—“ Please God, and 
please yourselves, and you will please me ;” and his usual 
compliment to his newly-married friends—“ Others wish 
you all happiness. I wish you all holiness, and then there 
is no doubt but you will have all happiness.” 


CCLXXI. A Psalm Beloved by Luther. Ps. cxxx. 


By a curious unfitness, this Psalm with xxxii. was the 
choice of Diana of Poitiers; and yet may there not be 
a sense of deep fitness which comes at moments to the 
souls of the most frivolous? We can understand better 
Luther’s love of it, with Psalm li. These Psalms are the 
nearest approach in the Old Testament to the 8th chapter 
of the Romans. One of his great psalm-hymns which 
penetrated to the inmost heart of the German people was 
formed on this 130th. If the 46th furnished the major, 
this gives the minor key in the songs of the Reformation 
of Germany :— 

“ Aus tiefer Noth schret tch zu Dir.” 

“Lord, from the depths to Thee I cry.” 


It was written in 1524, and has its own history. On 
the 6th of May of the year in which it was made, a poor 
old weaver sang it through the streets of Magdeburg and 
offered it for sale at a price that suited the poorest. He 
was cast into prison by the burgomaster, but 200 citizens 
marched to the Town Hall, and would not leave till he 
was freed. “So mightily grew the word of the Lord, and 
prevailed.” And Psalms and music were chosen weapons 
of the time “The ransomed of the Lord returned, and 
came to Zion with songs.” This prayer-psalm had its 
comforting power on the singer. When Luther, during 
the Augsburg Diet, was at the Castle of Coburg, and had 
to suffer much from inward and outward trials, he fell into 
a swoon. When he awoke from it, he said, “Come, and in 
defiance of the devil, let us sing the Psalm, ‘Lord, from 
the depths to Thee I cry ;' let us sing it in full chorus and 


158 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


extol and praise God.” In the first days of the Reform 
it was frequently employed as a funeral song. It was sung 
at the interment of the great friend and protector of Luther, 
Frederick the Wise, in 1525. When the body of Luther 
was on its way from Ejisleben, where he died, to Witten- 
berg, where he lies buried, it rested for a night, Feb. 2oth, 
1546, in the church in Halle of which Justus Jonas, the 
bosom friend of Luther, was pastor (Lzebfrauenkirche). 
This Psalm was given out by Jonas, and sung by the thou- 
sands who thronged and wept round Luther’s coffin. 

Dr. John Owen gives an account of the way in which he 
was led to write his commentary, or rather series of dis- 
courses, on this Psalm. ‘Mr. Richard Davis,” he says, 
“who afterwards became pastor of a church in Rowel, 
Northamptonshire, being under religious impressions, 
sought a conference with me. I put the question to him, 
‘Young man, pray, in what manner do you think to go to 
God?’ ‘Through the Mediator, sir,’ Mr. Davis answered. 
‘That is easily said, I replied, ‘but I assure you, it is 
another thing to go to God through the Mediator than 
many who make use of the expression are aware of. I 
myself preached Christ some years, when I had but very 
little, if any, experimental acquaintance with access to 
God through Christ; until the Lord was pleased to visit 
me with sore affliction, whereby I was brought to the 
mouth of the grave, and under which my soul was oppressed 
with horror and darkness: but God graciously relieved my 
spirit by a powerful application of Psalm cxxx. 4: “But 
there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be 
feared,” from whence I received special instruction, peace 
and comfort in drawing near to God through the Mediator, 
and preached thereupon immediately after my recovery.’” 
This is no doubt the reason why nearly three-fourths of 
Owen’s treatise is occupied with this verse. 

It was the 130th Psalm, sung in St. Paul’s, May, 1738, 
and heard by John Wesley with deep emotion, which pre- 
pared him for the truth of justification by faith, which he 
embraced shortly afterwards through reading Luther on 
the Galatians. His conversations with Peter Bohlen, of 
the Moravian Brethren, also aided him greatly, and helped 
to preserve him from the mystic Arminianism of Law’s 
Serious Call, to which he was at one time inclined. So far 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 159 


as we can see, Wesley’s strength and that of the world-wide 
movement which has come from him would have failed in 
the birth, but for this decision. It is interesting, also, to 
mark the glimpses we get of souls touching one another 
age after age through the hidden life which springs from 
the Word of God,—David, Paul, Luther, Owen, Zinzendorf, 
Wesley, moving and being moved by the secret currents 
of that same spirit of which we hear the sound, but cannot 
tell whence it comes or whither it goes. When the veil is 
lifted that is spread over all nations, it will be as pleasant 
to trace the intertwining of the roots of the tree of life, as 
to look on its blossoms and admire its fruit. 

Ver. 6. Jonathan Edwards, in his /Journal, says, “In 
Sept., 1725, was taken ill at Newhaven; and endeavoured 
to go home to Windsor ; was so ill at the North Village 
that I could go no further, where I lay sick for about a. 
quarter of a year. And in this sickness, God was pleased 
to visit me again with the sweet influences of His Spirit 
My mind was greatly engaged there on divine pleasant 
contemplations and longings of soul. I observed that 
those who watched with me would often be looking out for 
the morning, and seemed to wish for it; which brought to 
my mind the words of the Psalmist’s, which my soul with 
sweetness made its own language: ‘My soul waiteth for 
the Lord more than they that watch for the morning.’ 
And when the light of the morning came, and the beams 
of the sun came in at the windows, it refreshed my soul 
from one morning to another. It seemed to me to be 
some image of the sweet light of God’s glory.” 


CCLXXII. A Song of Christian Assemblies. 
Ps, cxxxill. 


THIS Psalm has opened and closed many a Christian 
assembly, but has not yet found its way to the inmost 
heart of the Church of Christ. In 1638, it was sung at the 
termination of the famous Assembly held in Glasgow, of 
which Alexander Henderson was Moderator. That meet- 
ing was the tide-mark of the second Reformation—a bright 
morning that was soon obscured by clouds and storm, but 
it opened a day which is still advancing, 


160 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCLXXIII. “Let us with a Gladsome Mind.” 


Ps. cxxxvi. 


THIS Psalm was the foundation of John Milton’s “ Let us 
with a gladsome mind”—written when he was fifteen—the 
only one of his psalms which has found a responsive note 
in the songs of the Church, though no one felt more than 
he did the height of the Psalmist’s great argument! 


“Their songs, 
Thin sown with aught of profit or delight, 
Will far be found unworthy to compare 
With Sion’s songs to all true tastes excelling,— 
Where God is praised aright, and godlike men, 
The Holiest of holies, and His saints,— 
Such are from God inspired.” 

Paradise Reg., iv. 


CCLXXIV. A Patriotic Psalm. Ps. cxxxvii. 


THIs Psalm has struck the key to many a song of the love 
of country. 


“Yes ! I may love the music of strange tongues, 
And mould my heart anew to take the stamp 
Of foreign friendships in a foreign land ; 
But to my parched roof’s mouth let cleave this tongue, 
My fancy fade into a yellow leaf, 
And this oft-pausing heart forget to throb, 
If Scotland ! thee and thine, it e’er forget.” 
GRAHAME, 


The Abbé Curci, a great Oriental scholar, and author of 
a translation of the Old Testament into Italian, one of the 
few clergymen who have taken the side of Italy and free- 
dom against the Pope, lectured to an immense assembly in 
Rome (1883), and expressed his special love to the 137th 
Psalm. He said it was the first and grandest patriotic 
song which was ever written—linking God and country 
together. Camoens, the national poet of Portugal, has 
paraphrased the 137th Psalm in a sonnet as the Psalm of 
‘pious, patriotic memory.” 

It may be considered, in a higher point of view, as the 
spring of the Jerusalem songs, which, in all ages of the 
Church, looked away from a state of exile to the final 
home :— 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 161 


“For thee, O dear, dear country, 

Mine eyes their vigils keep ; 

For very love, beholding 
Thy happy name, they weep: 

E’en now, by faith, I see thee, 
E’en now thy walls discern ; 

To thee my thoughts are kindled, 
And strive, and pant, and yearn.” 


CCLXXV. A Distressed Church. Ps. cxxxvii. 3, 
4. “They that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing 
us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's 
song in a strange land?” 


IT has often been said that the first Nonconformists were 
a gloomy generation. “ But,” asks one of their advocates, 
“jis it fair to ruin us, and then reproach us for not being 
merry? They that wasted us required of us mirth. : 
But how shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a strange land 
and what other songs can we sing ? Shall we set the Five- 
Mile Acts to music, and make merry with our sorrows?” 
Some degree of gloom was natural. One poor woman 
exclaimed to a Nonconformist minister, “I wonder how 
any one can laugh when God’s Church is in such dis- 
tress.” 


CCLXXVI. The Lord’s Song. Ps. cxxxvii. 4. “Zhe 
Lord’s song in a strange land.” 


IN one of his recent letters from Shanghai, Archdeacon 
Moule describes an incident of his journey to Hangchow 
which shows Christian ideas are spreading. He was 
awakened, so he tells us, early on a Sunday morning as he 
lay in his boat hearing the younger boatman in his song, 
sung to beguile the toil of paddling, repeat the words, 
“ Jesus is our best Friend: I love thee, my Saviour.” The 
lad, when questioned, said he had never been in a 
Christian church or school himself, but had learned the 
words from a friend. Round Shanghai one may often 
hear snatches of prayer and hymns chanted by the boat- 
men at their work. Often those who sing have no idea of 
the true meaning of the words, but the hymns of the new 
faith upon heathen lips prophesy and promise a glorious 
victory. 


162 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 


CCLXXVII. In God’s Hands. Ps, exxxix. 12. “ Zhe 
darkness and the light are both alike to Thee.” 


IRENAUS PRIME mentions the following incident in one 
of his letters :— 

“When I was about forty years old, and sitting at my 
work in the office in New York, a stranger entered, and 
without introduction or even mentioning his name, said to 
me: ‘I have come in to see you whom I know very well, 
though you do not know me. About forty years ago I was 
going up the Hudson River on a sloop, for in those days 
there were no steamboats or railroads. When we were in 
Tappan Sea we were overtaken by a violent storm, and 
the passengers, of whom there were several on board, were 
greatly alarmed lest we should be capsized. In the midst 
of the excitement a young and beautiful woman stood in 
the midst of us and said: “In God’s hands we are as safe 
on the water as on the land.” Those words calmed the 
excitement, and we waited in hope till the storm abated. 
The lovely woman who thus proved our comforter in 
danger, afterward became your mother! Her words have 
been my motto all the years since. I have watched your 
life and marked every step you have taken, always keeping 
in mind the lesson I learned from the lips that taught your 
infant lips to pray.’ 

“ Having said these pleasant words, the stranger left me, 
and I have never to my knowledge seen him or heard from 
him since. I asked my mother about it, and she remem- 
bered the time, the voyage, the storm, the excitement, but 
her own composure was so habitual that it was not mem- 
orale.” 


CCLXXVIII. The Evening Song. Ps. cxli 


Tr1s Psalm was the evening song of the early Christian 
Church. 


CCLXXIX. Watching the Lips. Ps. cxli. 3. “ Se 
a watch, O Lord, before my mouth: keep the door of my lips. 
THE old Greeks tell us a story about the death of Hercules, 
That strong hero had shot his enemy Nessus, with a pois- 
oned arrow, and the garment of the slain man was all 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 163 


stained with poisoned blood. Before he died, Nessus gave 
his clothing to the wife of Hercules, telling her that it 
would make her husband love her always. It came to pass 
after a time that she gave the fatal garment to her husband, 
and no sooner had he put it on, than the poison seized 
upon him ; and when in his agony he tried to tear it off, it 
clung the closer, and so he died killed by his own poison. 
So it is with the man who clothes himself with the garment 
of cursing or bad talk, it clings to him and poisons him, soul 
and body. 


CCLXXX. Fear of Death Overcome. Ps. cxliii. 


THOMAS BILNEY, burned in the reign of Henry VIII, 
had, at first, fear of death, but he rose above it, and his 
behaviour at the stake made a great impression on the 
people: “He made his private prayer with such earnest 
elevation of his eyes and hands to heaven, and in so good 
and quiet behaviour, that he seemed not to consider the 
terror of his death; and ended at last his private prayers 
with the Psalm beginning, ‘Hear my prayer, O Lord! con- 
sider my desire!’ And the next verse he repeated in deep 
meditation thrice: ‘ And enter not into judgment with Thy 
servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.’ 
And so, finishing that Psalm, he ended his prayers.” 


CCLXXXI. An Irish Bishop. Ps. cxliv. 


FRoM this Psalm, being the Psalm for the day, Bishop 
Bedell preached, Jan. 30th, 1642, in the midst of the Irish 
Rebellion, and died a few days afterwards. He was one 
of the best men of his time—humble, devout, self-sacrific- 
ing. The Bible which, with great labour, he got translated 
into the Irish language, was for a long time the one chiefly 
in use among the Scottish Highlanders ; it was not till 
the beginning of the present century that it found much 
entrance into Ireland. All classes of the Irish had a great 
regard for him. His last sermon was preached in the 
house of a converted priest, to which he was allowed to 
retire from Castle Oughterard, County Cavan, where he 
had been kept a prisoner. He lies in a corner of Kilmore 
Churchyard, close to a large sycamore tree which he him- 
self had planted. 


164 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCLXXXII. The Te Deum ofthe Old Testament. 
Ps. cxlv. 


THE tradition about the Ze Deum is that it was sung by 
Ambrose and Augustine, through a kind of inspiration— 
in 387—when they met at Milan, and when Augustine was 
baptized by Ambrose. The truth in this is that this hymn, 
which has been sung in so many countries and through so 
many centuries, had its commencement in a responsive 
Christian song which Ambrose introduced from the Eastern 
into the Western Church. It wasa morning psalm of praise, 
and began, “ Every day will I bless Thee, and praise Thy 
name for ever and ever.” This 145th Psalm may be looked 
on, therefore, as having in it the germ of the wide-spread 
Christian hymn, and as being itself the Ze Deum of the 
Old Testament. The Jews were accustomed to say that 
he who could pray this Psalm from the heart three’ times 
daily was preparing himself best for the praise of the 
world to come. 


CCLXXXIII. Christ’s Everlasting Kingdom. Ps. 
cxlv. 13. “ Zhy kingdom ts an everlasting kingdom.” 


VOLTAIRE said, “In twenty years Christianity will be no 
more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took 
twelve apostles to rear.” Some years after his death, his 
very printing press was employed in printing New Testa- 
ments, and thus spreading abroad the Gospel. Gibbon, 
who, “with solemn sneer,” devoted his gorgeous history to 
sarcasm upon Christ and His followers, his estate is now in 
the hands of one who devotes large sums to the propaga- 
tion of the very truth Gibbon laboured to sap. 


CCLXXXIV. A Good Man of the Olden Time. 
Ps. cxlvi. 


IN 1574 died David Home of Wedderburn, a gentleman of 
good account in Berwickshire, and father of David Home 
of Godscroft, author of the “History of the House of 
Douglas.” He died in the 50th year of his age, of con- 
sumption, being the first of his family for a long period 
who had died a natural death—all the rest had lost their 
lives in the defence of their country. He was a man re- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 165 


markable for piety and probity, candour and integrity. 
He had the Psalms, and especially some short sentences 
of them, always in his mouth, such as, “It is better to trust 
in the Lord than in the princes of the earth,” “Our hope 
ought to be placed in God alone.” He delighted particu- 
larly in the 146th Psalm, and sung it, playing on the harp, 
with the most sincere and unaffected devotion. 


CCLXXXV. The Dairyman’s Daughter. Ps 
exlvili. 8.‘ Wind and storm fulfilling His Word.” 


AMONG the voices of God's providence are the howling 
storm and the roaring sea. A pious chaplain, detained by 
contrary winds at the Isle of Wight over the Sunday, 
preached that day in one of the churches of the island. 
In the congregation there was a thoughtless girl who had 
come to show her fine clothes. The word of God arrested 
her, and she was converted. The story of her conversion 
is the narrative of the “ Dairyman’s Daughter,” which has 
gone all round the world, and the fruit of the sermon isa 
hundredfold. 


CCLXXXAVI. A Pulpit Beggar. Ps. cxlviiil. 17. “Whe 
can stand before His cold ?” 


THE successor of Rowland Hill at Surrey Chapel was the 
famous James Sherman. Mr. Sherman was one of the most 
skilful and successful of pulpit-beggars. Give him a good 
cause, and he never failed to get money. Ata Friday 
morning service, on one occasion, it was most bitterly 
cold, and very few people were present. The intensity of 
the cold had suggested his text—Psalm cxlviii. 17: “ Who 
can stand before His cold?” In the course of his remarks, 
he alluded to the pitiable condition of the poor immediately 
around the chapel; and reminded his audience that if, in 
their comfortable homes, and so warmly clothed, they felt 
it so difficult to “stand before His cold,” what must it be 
with the homeless and the half-naked? The appeal was 
so pertinent and so resistless that a considerable contribu- 
tion was offered on the spot! Measures were devised for 
the relief of the poor, a brewhouse was turned into a soup- 
kitchen, and for months effectual relief was afforded to 
thousands, 


166 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCLXXXVII. Three Lessons for Children, Prov. 
i. 8. “ And forsake not the law of thy mother. 


JOHN RUSKIN, in counting up the blessings of his child- 
hood, reckoned these three for first good—Peace: he had 
been taught the meaning of peace in thought, act, and 
word; had never heard father’s or mother’s voice once 
raised in any dispute, nor seen an angry glance in the eyes 
of either, nor had ever seen a moment’s trouble or disorder 
in any household matter. Next to this he estimates obedi- 
ence—he obeyed word or lifted finger of father or mother 
as a ship her helm, without an idea of resistance. And 
lastly Faith—nothing was ever promised him that was not 
given ; nothing ever threatened him that was not inflicted, 
and nothing ever told him that was not true. 


CCLXXXVIII. Unconscious Danger. Prov. i. 27. 
“ When your destruction cometh as a whirlwind.” : 
THERE is an account of the defeat, forty years ago, of the 
troops of a distinguished general in Italy. Having taken 
their stand near Terni, where the waters of the river Velino 
rush down an almost perpendicular precipice of three 
hundred feet, and thence toss and foam along through 
groves of orange and olive trees toward the Tiber, into 
which it soon empties, they attempted, when pressed by 
the Austrians, to make their escape over a bridge which 
spanned the stream just above the falls. In the hurry of 
the moment, and all unconscious of the insufficient strength 
of the structure, they rushed upon it in such numbers that 
it suddenly gave way, and precipitated hundreds of the 
shrieking and now despairing men into the rapid current 
beiow. There was no resisting such a tide when once on 
its bosom. With frightful velocity they were borne along 
toward the roaring cataract and the terrific gulf whence 
clouds of impenetrable mist never ceased to rise. A mo- 
ment more, and they made the awful plunge into the 
fathomless abyss, from which, amid the roar of the waters, 
no cry of horror could be heard, no bodies, or even frag- 
ments of bodies, could ever be rescued. The peril was 
wholly unsuspected, but none the less real, and ending in 
a “destruction” none the less “ swift.” 
May we not see in this the picture of a great throng of 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 167 


immortal men in respect to their moral end? It seems 
generally to be assumed that, in our relations to eternity 
there is no danger except that of which we are distinctly 
conscious,—which we see, or hear, or feel. But there can- 
not be a greater delusion. It would be equally rational 
for the blind man, who wanders among pit-falls, or on the 
trembling brink of some frightful precipice, to infer that 
there is no danger because he sees none. Insensibility to 
danger is, in fact, one of the most startling characteristics 
of the sinner’s condition by nature, just as insensibility in 
a mortal disease is one of the most alarming symptoms of 
the disease itself, 


CCLXXXIX. A Providential Escape. Prov. ii. 8. 
“ He preserveth the way of His saints.” 


Mr. J. Hisss, a Methodist preacher, had once a provi- 
dential escape, which he tells as follows:—‘‘ When I was 
stationed in Swansea, in the year 1836, I was appointed 
delegate to the District Meeting held at St. Ives, Corn- 
wall. One Captain Gribble offered me a passage in his 
vessel, I accepted the offer, and said, ‘When are you 
going out?’ He replied, ‘We have got our cargo, and 
shall go to-morrow if the wind is fair.’ I went to the 
dock on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday ; the wind 
was still against him. He then advised me to take the 
packet to Bristol, as he said it was quite uncertain when 
he should be able to go to sea. I took the packet on the 
Thursday morning. We had a very rough passage. 
Through mercy we arrived safe in Bristol next morning. I 
took coach for Exeter. A very heavy snow fell that day. 
(It was on Good Friday; the district meetings were held 
in April.) Saturday, took coach for Hayle. On our way, 
in going up a certain hill, the horses ran back into a ditch 
and upset the coach. It was fortunate that there was a 
deal of snow, so that no one was hurt. I arrived at Hayle 
between one and two o'clock on Sunday morning. I then 
walked to St. Ives, a distance of five miles. I went to 
Mr. Driffield’s. When he saw me he said, ‘Is Joseph yet 
alive?’ I answered, ‘Yes.’ He further said, ‘We were 
informed you were coming with a sailing vessel, and it 
appears she is lost, for some of the wreck is come on shore. 


168 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


We have gone through the stationing, and left you without 
a station.’ I was given to understand that on the morning 
I left for Bristol the vessel went out. The wind was fair, 
but after being two hours at sea, all went to the bottom, 
captain and crew.” 


CCXC. A Good Man’s Diary. Prov. ii. 20. 
“ Walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the 
rightoous.” 


FROM an examination of Edwards’ diary, we can account, 
humanly speaking, for his eminence as a Christian. Take 
these extracts for example :— 

“ Resolved,—Never to lose one moment of time, but to 
improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can. 

“ Resolved,—To live with all my might while I do live. 

“ Resolved,—To live so at all times, as I think best in 
my most devout frames, and when I have the clearest 
notions of the things of the gospel and another world, 

“ Resolved,—To study the Scriptures so steadily, con- 
stantly, and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly 
perceive, myself to grow in the knowledge of the same. 

“ Resolved,—To ask myself at the end of every day, 
week, month, and year, wherein I could possibly in any 
respect have done better. 

“ Resolved,—Never to give over, nor in the least to 
slacken my fight with my corruption, however unsuccessful 
I may be. 

“ Resolved,—After afflictions, to inquire what I am the 
better for them ; what good I have got by them ; and what 
I might have got by them. 

“I think ita very good way to examine dreams every 
morning when I awake; what are the nature, circum- 
stances, principles, and ends of my imaginary actions and 
passions in them, in order to discern what are my pre- 
vailing inclinations, etc. 

“ How it comes about I know not, but I have remarked 
it hitherto, that at these times when I have read the 
Scriptures most, I have evermore been most lively and in 
the best frame. ? 

“Determined, when I am indisposed to prayer, always 
to premeditate what to pray for, and that it is better that 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 16g 


the prayer should be of almost any shortness than that my 
mind should be almost continually off from what I say. 

“T have loved the doctrines of the gospel; they have 
been to my soul like green pastures. The way of salva- 
tion by Christ has appeared in a general way glorious and 
excellent, most pleasant and most beautiful. It has often 
seemed to me that it would in a great measure spoil heaven 
to receive it in any other way. 

“There are very few requests that are proper for an im- 
penitent man that are not also, in some sense, proper for 
the godly. 

“Though God has forgiven and forgotten your past 
sins, yet do not forget them yourself; often remember 
what a wretched bond-slave you were in the land of Egypt. 

“One new discovery of the glory of Christ’s face will do 
more toward scattering clouds of darkness in one minute 
than examining old experience, by the best marks that 
can be given through a whole year.” 


CCXCI. Giving a Tenth to the Lord. Prov. 
ii. 9. “ Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the 
tirst-fruits of all thine increase.” 


Mrs. ISABELLA GRAHAM had received £1,000 unexpec- 
tedly, and, true to the godly habit which she had main- 
tained through days of affluence and days of straitness, 
she put £100 at once into the bag, which had rever 
received so large a sum before. The circumstance was 
never mentioned by her; but after her death this entry 
was found in her diary: “ Quick, quick, before my heart 
gets hard.” 


CCXCII. In the Far Country. Prov. iv. 14. 
“Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the 
way of evil men.” 


THE following is a strange incident in the early life of 
John Welch, who became one of the saintliest of Scotland’s 
Reformed pastors. When a youth, he was sent to the 
grammar-school, probably at Dumfries; but so deeply 
fixed had his early unsettled habits become, that he proved 
insubordinate, and running away from school, joined him- 


170 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


self to some robbers, whom he accompanied on their moss- 
trooping expeditions to the English border, 

It is strange to find one afterwards so eminent for grace 
in such acconnection. The bold fiery spirit he then evinced 
continued through life, but softened by deep communion 
with his Master, and turned into other and better channels. 
His youthful dreams of freedom and plenty, as is usual in 
parallel cases, came to a speedy conclusion. The expe- 
ditions, so far as he was concerned, were barren of success, 
and his clothes were at length worn to rags. The rough 
camp-life, with its exposure to all weathers, involuntary 
fastings, and sudden alarms, did not prove so agreeable in 
reality and in prospect, and like his prototype, the prodigal 
of the parable, he began to turn relenting and longing 
thoughts to his father’s house. Indeed, he appears really 
to have been visited in that far country of famine by power- 
ful workings of the Spirit of God. It seems that while he 
came to himself, he began to turn towards God as well as 
his father’s house. It was the critical turning-point, the 
Hercules’ choice, that sooner or later, and in some form, 
comes to every youth. Young Welch made a sudden 
and decided resolve, really, we think, through the grace of 
God, whom he had previously despised. He escaped from 
his robber-companions for good and all, and set out with 
all speed for his father’s house. But the elder Welch was 
not a man to be trifled with, and that his son well knew, 
and the difficulty of facing him grew more formidable the 
nearer he came to his house. At length, arrived at the 
town of Dumfries, that lay on his way, he betook himself 
to the house of his aunt, Agnes Forsyth, to whom he com- 
municated his sad plight. There he stayed for some days, 
not daring to return home. Meantime his father arrived 
on business in Dumfries, and having called on his cousin, 
Mrs. Forsyth, they sat and talked a while. At length she 
said, “ Have you ever heard any news of your son John ?” 

“O cruel woman!” exclaimed the father with a burst 
of sorrow, “how can you name him to me? The first 
news I expect to hear of him is that he is hanged for a 
thief.” 

“ Many a profligate boy,” she answered, “has become a 
virtuous man.” 

But the father refused all the comfort she continued to 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 171 


give, and at length suspecting something, he asked whether 
she knew his lost son was yet alive. 

She answered, Yes, he was, and she hoped he should 
prove a better man than he was a boy; and with that she 
called upon him to come to his father. He came with 
every mark of heartfelt grief; and weeping, he kneeled 
and besought his father for Christ’s sake to pardon his 
misbehaviour, and engaged to become a new man. His 
father, however, received him with reproaches and threats ; 
but at length, through the importunate mediation of his 
cousin, and his own paternal relenting feelings, he was 
persuaded to receive him back to favour. 


CCXCIII. Running from Sin. Prov.iv. 15. “ Avoid 
tt, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.” 


A LITTLE girl, in the days when the conversion of children 
was not the subject of as much prayer as now, applied for 
membership in a Baptist Church. “ Were you a sinner,” 
asked an old deacon, “before this change of which you 
now speak?” “Yes, sir,’ she replied. “ Well, are you 
now a sinner!” “Yes, sir; I feel I am a greater sinner 
than ever.” “Then what change is there in you?” “I 
don’t quite know how to explain it,” she said; “but I 
used to be a sinner running after sin, and now I hope I 
ama sinner running from sin.” They received her, and 
for years she was a bright and shining light, and now she 
lives where there is no sin to run from. 


CCXCIV. A Contrast. Prov. iv. 18 “Zhe path of the 
just ts as the shining light, that shineth more and more unio 
the perfect day.” 


WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, in his old age, meeting one o! 
the companions of his youth whom he had not seen for 
many years, went up to him and said, “You and I, my 
lord, were well acquainted formerly.” “Ah, Mr. Wiiber- 
force!” he replied, cordially ; and then added, “you and I 
are a great many years older now.” “Yes, we are,” re- 
turned the aged disciple of Christ; “and for my part I can 
truly say that I do not regret it.” “ Don’t you!” exclaimed 
the nobieman, with an eager and almost incredulous voice, 
and a look of wondering cejection. 


172 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


How affecting and characteristic the contrast. The aged 
Christian cheerful, the aged nobleman sad; the heaven- 
born child of God hopeful, the high-tiorn child of earth 
desponding ; the one gladdened by the bright and brighten- 
ing glory of his faith and love, the other dismayed to find 
light after light going out, and darkness thickening around ; 
the one rejoicing in the hope of being ever with the Lord, 
the other trembling at the very thought of the world to 
come. 


CCXCV. Boys’ Temptations. Prov. iv. 27. “Re 
move thy foot from evil.” 


FULLER was only a boy of sixteen when he became known 
as a professed follower of Jesus Christ. The temptations, 
therefore, which assailed him at the outset, were boys’ 
temptations. For example, as the spring of 1770 came on, 
the young people of the town met as usual in the evenings 
for youthful exercises ; and on the occasion of a wake ora 
feast, there were special “on-goings.” In these the young 
disciple had formerly taken his part. Now, however, he 
shunned them as injurious to his spiritual “interests ;” 
and he tells -us, that to avoid being drawn into them, or 
being harassed by even the sound of them reaching his 
ears, he began a practice which he continued with great 
peace and comfort for several years. “Whenever a feast 
or holiday occurred, instead of sitting at home by myself, 
I went to a neighbouring village to visit some Christian 
friend, and returned when all was over. By this step I 
was delivered from those mental participations in folly 
which had given me so much uneasiness. Thus the seasons 
of temptation became to me times of refreshing from the 
presence of the Lord.” This was, indeed, being more than 
a conqueror—turning what might have been an occasion 
of sin into a means of grace. It was a walking in the 
Spirit, that he might not be seduced into fulfilling the lusts 
of the flesh. 


CCXCVI. The Wild Huntsman. PRov.v.22. “ Ais 
own iniguities shall take the wicked himself, and he shail be 
holden with the cords of his sins. 


THE Germans have an ancient mythical legend which, 
with its fearful imagery, teaches an impressive lesson. A 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 173 


nobleman, with horse and hounds, sets forth on the Sab- 
bath for a hunting excursion. The church bells, sounding 
out on the air their invitations to worship, call him in vain, 
as he passes. On his right a shadowy rider, on a white 
horse, attending him, pleads with him to desist from his 
madness ; while on the left a black-visaged companion, 
bestriding a black steed, urges on the chase. So on he 
dashes, over highway and field, trampling down harvests 
and flocks, scoffing at the cries of the husbandmaan, till 
invading the sacred seclusion of a holy man, he is doomed 
to continue the hunt for ever. Then suddenly the glare of 
an unearthly light flashes on field and grove. The heavens 
darken with storm-clouds overhead, and the earth opens 
beneath. Demon fingers reach up from below toward the 
terrified rider; while howling hell-hounds spring from 
yawning abysses to pursue him. So, with ghastly face, 
ever turned backward in horror, amidst curses resounding 
through all the air, he rides from age to age, the race of 
death. 

It is but a feeble and shadowy image of the meaning of 
those words of Biblical forewarning: “His own iniquity 
shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden in 
the cords of his sins.” How often an infatuated worldling 
is startled for a moment, half resolved to break from the 
bondage of sin ; then, yielding to the old fascination again, 
he rushes on, and “the last state of that man is worse than 
the first.” 


CCXCVII. The Fatal Grasp. Prov. vi.15. “Without 
remedy, suddenly shall he be broken.” 


TRAVELLERS who visit the Falls of Niagara are directed 
to a spot on the margin of the precipice over the boiling 
current below, where a gay young lady a few years since 
lost her life. She was delighted with the wonders of the 
unrivalled scene; and ambitious to pluck a flower from a cliff 
where no human hand had before ventured, as a memorial 
of her own daring, she leant over the verge and caught 
a glimpse of the surging waters far down the battlement of 
rocks, while fear for a moment held her motionless. But 
there hung the lovely blossom upon which her heart was 
fixed, and her arm was outstretched to grasp the beautiful 
flower. The turf yielded to her pressure, and with a shriek 


174 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


she descended like a fallen star to the rocky shore, and 
was borne away gasping in death. 

Every hour life’s sands are sliding from beneath in- 
cautious feet ; and, with sin’s fatal flower in the unconscious 
hand, the trifler goes to his doom. 


CCXCVIII. The Ochre Spring. Prov. vi. 27, 28. “Can 
aman take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 
Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned ?” 


On the moors of Yorkshire there is a stream of water, 
which goes by the name of the “Ochre Spring.” It rises 
high up in the hills, and runs on bright and sparkling for 
a short distance, when it suddenly becomes a dark and 
muddy yellow. What is the reason of this? Why, it has 
been passing through a bed of ochre, and so it flows on 
for miles, thick and sluggish, useless and unpleasant. The 
world is full of such “beds of ochre.” Fairs and races, 
sinful companions, bad books—all such things are just like 
beds of ochre ; connection with them ts pollution. 


CCXCIX. Purity of Character. Prov. vii.1. “My 
son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.” 


THERE grows a bloom and beauty, over the beauty of the 
plum and apricot, more exquisite than the fruit itself—a 
soft, delicate flush that overspreads its blushing cheek. 
Now, if you strike your hand over that, it is gone for ever ; 
for it never grows but once. The flower that hangs in the 
morning impearled with dew, arrayed as a queenly woman 
never was arrayed with jewels: once shake it so that the 
beads roll off, and you may sprinkle water over it as you 
please, yet it can never be made again what it was when 
the dew fell silently on it from heaven. On a frosty morn- 
ing you may see panes of glass covered with landscapes— 
mountains, lakes, and trees, blended in a beautiful, fan- 
tastic picture. Now, lay your hand upon the glass, and by 
a scratch of your finger, or by the warmth of your palm, 
all the delicate tracery will be obliterated. So there is in 
youth a beauty and purity of character which, when once 
touched and defiled, can never be restored—a fringe more 
delicate than frostwork, and which, when torn and broken, 
will never be re-embroidered. He who has spotted and 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 173 


soiled his garments in youth, though he may seek to make 
them white again, can never wholly do it, even were he to 
wash them with his tears. When a young man leaves his 
father’s house, with the blessing of a mother’s tears still 
wet upon his brow, if he once lose that early purity of 
character, it is a spot that he can never make whole again. 
Such is the consequence of crime. Its effects cannot be 
eradicated ; it can only be forgiven. 


ccc. A Young Man Void of Understanding. 
Proy. vii. 7. ‘‘/ discerned among the youths a young man 
void of understanding. 


THE late Rev. Dr. Bedell, father of Bishop Bedell, of Ohio, 
was a very excellent Episcopal preacher in the city of 
Philadelphia. He was full of love for Christ and the souls 
of men, and under his preaching many were turned to 
righteousness who are now stars in his crown of rejoicing. 
As the crowd in his church one evening were waiting for 
the sermon, and the glowing-hearted minister stood in the 
holy place ready to begin, a young stranger entered the 
door of the church just in time to catch the words of this 
text. He wasa wild, thoughtless, wicked youth, who had 
been invited to go and hear Dr. Bedell. But he had re- 
fused, with the profane remark that he would not go to 
church to hear Jesus Christ himself. This evening he was 
walking by the church, and an impulse, sudden and irre- 
sistible, urged him in. As he stood inside of the door, Dr. 
Bedell announced as his text, “I discerned among the 
youths a young man void of understanding.” 

The text was a sermon. It was the word of God, 
sharper than a two-edged sword. It discerned the thoughts 
and intents of his heart. The Spirit of God sent it home 
to his conscience. He had been an unbeliever and despiser 
of the gospel ; but the eyes of his mind were opened. He 
had been a profligate; his sins were set in order before 
him. He was struck through as with a dart, when the 
folly and madness of his past life were revealed in the light 
of the gospel, The faithful preacher unfolded the exceed- 
ing foolishness of a life of sensual pleasure, idleness, 
frivolity, and the inevitable end of such a career. It is 
recorded of this young man that he became a regular 


176 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


attendant on the ministry of Dr. Bedell, a member of his 
Church, and a useful Christian. 


CCCI. A Pious Son. Prov. viii. 17. “JZ love them 
that love Me ; and those that seek Me early shall find Me.” 


THIs incident is found in the life of Reginald Heber, Lord 
Bishop of Calcutta. “One day when Reginald was at the 
age of fourteen, his mother missed her ‘Companion to the 
Altar.’ Search was made for it among all the servants, but 
it was nowhere to be found. After three weeks’ fruitless 
inquiry, it was given up as lost, till at length she happened 
to mention it to Reginald, who immediately brought it to 
her, saying it had deeply interested him ; and he begged 
permission to accompany his mother to the altar when the 
sacrament was next administered. Penetrated with grati- 
tude to God for giving her so pious a son, Mrs. Heber 
burst into tears of joy as she cheerfully assented to his 
request. 


CCCII. A Successful Life. Prov.x. 7. “ Zhe memory 
of the just ts blessed.” 


EARLY in life the late Earl Cairns’ interest in spiritual 
things began, and his love for the Bible and the means 
of grace. There was all through his life a gradual 
growth in grace, “going and growing” “from strength to 
strength ;” “the path of the just is as the shining light, 
that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” When 
a little boy, he wrote for the Church Missionary Gleaner. 
One treatise on Psalm xiv. was considered very remarkable, 
in which he went into details on the spiritual meaning of 
_ the verses. When twenty-three he always rose at four 
a.m., in order to give time to God’s Word and prayer 
before his legal work at six. For years after his marriage 
he conducted family prayers at 7.45 am. His invariable 
rule was to rise one hour and a half before that time to 
read the Bible and pray. This early rising continued 
during his busy life at the Bar, and in the House of 
Commons, though often not more than two hours in bed. 
What a lesson this is to us all! Surely this was the secret 
of his successful life, that he would allow nothing to come 
between him and God, and would not lose the quiet time 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 173 


alone with his Father in the early morning. His life was 
a life of prayer and dependence upon God. Before any 
work which required more than the usual effort and wisdom 
he spent time in special prayer. He never went to a 
Cabinet Council or spoke on any important matter without 
first waiting upon God in private and earnest prayer. 

In his dying hours he showed the power which the Gospel 
exercised upon his soul. He conversed with those around 
him up to the last moment almost, in a calm and peaceful 
tone, indicating the depth of his trust in Christ as his 
Saviour. 


CCCIII. Acorn Shells. Prov. x. 4 “Zhe hand of the 
diligent maketh rich.” 


ON many parts of our coasts, between high-water and low- 
water marks, the rocks and stones are to be found encrusted 
all over with a peculiar little shell-fish. It has no power, 
like the limpet and other such creatures, to move about 
from place to place in search of food, at least in this the 
perfect stage of its existence; but wherever it first settles 
and begins to grow, there it must remain rooted to the spot. 
But like every other living thing, it waits not in vain upon 
God, who, in accordance with the nature and habits He 
has given it, sends it also its meat in due season. 

Wher the tide is out and the rocks are left dry, the 
little acorn shell is closed and motionless ; but when the 
advancing water begins to wash over it, immediately the 
jointed shell is opened, and rapidly and regularly the little 
creature casts forth its silver net into the tide, seeking 
diligently to gather the provision which the open and 
liberal hand of the great Creator brings within the reach of 
the tiniest of His creatures. 

It is a beautiful sight on a calm summer day, to look 
down through the still, clear water, on the side of a rock 
covered with acorn shells, at the busy little hands waving 
and grasping in all directions with the utmost grace and 


agility. 
CCCIV. Waiting upon God. Prov. xi18. “Zo him 
that soweth righteousness, shall be a sure reward.” 


A CHRISTIAN minister was holding a revival meeting in 
N 


178 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Edinburgh several years ago, when the president of an 
infidel society came into the place and tried not only tc 
ridicule what was going on, but to prevent persons coming 
forward to ask prayer. The minister went up to the man 
and said, “ Are you a Christian?” He replied, “No, | am 
not.” “Do you want to be a Christian?” The man 
gruffly answered, “No, I do not.” The minister was 
touched, and affectionately said, “ Well, shall we kneel down 
and pray together?” The man exclaimed, “ What is the 
good ? I do not believe in prayer!” The minister gently 
replied, “ Well, but allow me to kneel down and pray for 
you.” “You may do so if you like, but it will be of no 
benefit, for I do not believe in it.” The minister knelt 
dow:, and prayed, and after prayer the infidel president 
said, “I do not feel any different.” The minister replied 
as he left him, “ Ah, wait a while! God sometimes takes 
His own time.” 

Two years afterwards the minister met the same man, 
who exclaimed, “ You see, I am just the same; I am not 
different ; your prayer was no use!” The minister said, 
“ Ah, my friend, we will still wait upon God!” Well, some 
time afterwards, the president of the infidel society was 
convinced of his error, and entered a religious meeting, and 
when it was asked, “ Does any person present desire our 
prayers?” he stood up, and in heart-broken tones dvsired 
them to pray to God for his soul. The same day he gave 
his heart to God, and became a devout and exemplary 
Christian. 


CCCV. Dynamite. Prov. xi 19. “He that pursueth 
evil pursueth it to hi own death.” 


An American minister, towards the close of his sermon, 
introduced a very powerful and dramatic illustration. 
“Down by Hell Gate” (in allusion to some well-known 
place where certain blasting was to be carried out), “the 
rock is tunnelled, and deep under the solid masses over 
which men walk with such careless security, there are now 
laid trains of explosive powder. All seems so safe and 
firm outwardly, it is hardly possible to imagine that those 
solid masses will ever be shaken; but the time will come 
when a tiny spark will fire the whole train, and the moun- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 174 


tain will be in a moment rent in the air and torn to atoms. 
There are men,” he said, looking round—and a kind of 
shudder went through the assembly—“ there are men here 
who are tunnelled, mined ; their time will come, not to-day 
or to-morrow, not for months or years perhaps, but it will 
come; in a moment, from an unforeseen quarter, a trifling 
incident, their reputations will be blown to atoms, and what 
they have sown they will reap—just that. There is no 
dynamite like men’s lusts and passions.” 


CCCVI. No Deaths from Benevolence. Prov. 
xi. 24. “ There ts that scattereth, and yet increaseth ; and 
there ts that witholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 
poverty.” 


AN eminent layman, in making a platform missionary 
speech said, “I have heard of Churches starving out from 
a saving spirit; but I have never heard of one dying of 
benevolence. And if I could hear of one such, I would 
make a pilgrimage to it, by night, and in that quiet solitude, 
with the moon shining and the aged elm waving, I would 
put my hands on the moss-clad ruins, and gazing on the 
venerable scene would say, “ Blessed are the dead who die 
in the Lord,” 


CCCVII. A Small Offering. Prov. xi.24. ‘There is 
that witholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” 


Dr. HALL tells the story of a Scotchman who sung most 
piously the hymn,— 


“Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
That were a present far too small,” 


and all through the singing was fumbling in his pocket 
to make sure of the smallest piece of silver for the con- 
tribution- box, 


CCCVIII. The Widow andthe Sovereign. Prov. 
xi. 24. “ There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.” 


AT a missionary meeting held soon after the accession of 
our present Queen, one of the speakers related an anecdote 
concerning the Duchess of Kent and her royal daughter, 


180 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


which well illustrates how comfort and profit may attend 
giving liberally to the Lord. About fifty years ago there 
was a lighthouse on the southern coast, which was kept by 
a certain godly widow, who, not knowing how otherwise 
to aid the missionary cause, resolved that during the 
summer season she would place in the box the total of one 
day’s gratuities received from visitors. Among the callers 
on a particular day was a lady attired as a widow accom- 
panied by a little girl; and it appears that the two widows, 
drawn together as it were by common sympathy, conversed 
on their bereavements, tears mingling with their words. 
On leaving, the lady left a sovereign with her humble 
friend, and that day was the one set apart for placing all 
receipts into the missionary-box! The widow was thrown 
into a state of perplexity, poverty seeming to plead on the 
one hand, while her pledged word confronted her on the 
other. After thinking about the thing for some time, she 
put half a crown in the box; but on retiring to rest, found 
conscience sufficiently lively to deprive her of sleep. To 
obtain relief, she now rose, took back the silver and sur- 
rendered the gold, after which rest returned to her eyelids, 
and in the morning she felt comforted and refreshed. The 
matter occasioned no further trouble, but a few days after- 
wards the widow received a franked letter containing £20 
from the elder lady above mentioned, and 45 from the 
younger ; the first turning out to have been the Duchess 
of Kent, and the other the Princess Victoria, who now 
occupies the British throne. 


CCCIX. How to Win Souls. Prov. xi. 30. “He 
that winneth souls is wise.” 


Two clergymen were settled in their youth in contiguous 
parishes. The congregation of the one had become very 
much broken and scattered, while that of the other remained 
large and strong. Ata ministerial gathering, Dr. A. said 
to Dr. B., “ Brother, how has it happened that while I have 
laboured as diligently as you have, and preached better 
sermons, and more of them, my parish has been scattered 
to the winds, and yours remains strong and unbroken ?” 
Dr. B. facetiously replied, “Oh, I'll tell you, brother. 
When you go fishing, you just get a great rough pole for a 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 181 


handle, to which you attach a large cod line and a great 
hook, and twice as much bait as the fish can swallow, 
With these you dash up to the brook and throw in your 
hook with, ‘There, bite, you dogs!’ Thus you scare away 
_all the fish, When I go fishing, I get a little switching 
pole, a small line, and just such a hook and bait as the fish 
can swallow. Then I creep up to the brook and gently 
slip them in, and I twitch them out till my basket is full.” 

Said the poet Cowper in a letter to Rev. J. Newton, 
“No man was ever scolded out of his sins. The heart, 
corrupt as it is, and because it is so, grows angry if it be 
not treated with some management and good manners, and 
scolds again.” 


CCCX. Kindness to Animals. Prov. xii. 10. “4 
righteous man recardeth the life of his beast ; but the tender 
mercies of the wicked are cruel.” 


FRANCIS of Assisi was a passionate lover of nature. Each 
living thing was a brother or sister to him in a sense where 
almost ceased to be figurative. Birds, insects, fishes wich 
his friends and even his congregations; doves were his 
especial favourites. He gathered them into his convents, 
and taught them to eat out of his hand, and laid them in 
his bosom. ‘“ My dear sisters,’ he exclaimed to some 
starlings who chattered round him as he preached, “you 
have talked long enough: it is my turn now. Listen to 
the word of your Creator, and be quiet!” His biographer, 
Bonaventura, gives the very sermon addressed by the Saint 
to this audience. “My little sisters,” it began, “you should 
love and praise the Author of your beings who has clothed 
you with plumage and given you wings to fly when you 
will. You were the first created of all animals; you sow 
not, neither do you reap. Without any care of your own 
He gives you all. Therefore give praise to your bountiful 
Creator ! 

The well-known instinct by which animals discover and 
attach themselves to their rational friends was exhibited 
whenever Francis came abroad. The leveret did not seek 
to escape his notice. The half-frozen bees crawled to him 
in winter time to be fed. A lamb followed him even into 
the city of Rome. The wild falcon wheeled and fluttered 
round him. 


182 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCXI. A Wise Father. Prov. xiii 1. “A wise son 
heareth his father’s instruction.” 


Mr. HAWEIS, in “Winged Words,” counsels fathers to 
make friends of their children, and relates this anecdote: 
“A young man said to me the other day, ‘ Father’s old- 
fashioned ; he doesn’t know how money’s made now. In 
his day people went slow in order not to lose. Now we 
go fast and win.’ 

“*So,’ I said, ‘I am glad to hear that; but are you quite 
sure?’ and the young fellow laughed and went away. 
Some weeks after I met the father; he said, ‘John has 
lost me 41,000. ‘How is that?’ ‘He has had his 
lesson, but I have had to pay for it,’ said the father. ‘He 
thought he knew better than I did, and could make money 
fast: “Give me a thousand, and I will turn it over in a 
week, father.” “My dear boy,” I said, “I saw through 
this scheme twenty years ago!” But John would not be 
convinced. So I thought—well, I can afford to lose £1,000, 
and the lesson may be werth more than that to John. So 
I gave him the money, and said, “John, you will lose it.” 
A week later he comes to me: “ Father, it’s gone! all 
gone!” and he sits down and breaks out sobbing. He 
thought I should be very angry, but I only said, “I’m 
right glad to hear it,” and I said no more. John has learnt 
his lesson, and is not going to speculate any more.’” 


CCCXII. Slowto Wrath. Prov. xiv. 29. “ He that ts 
slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty 
of spirit exalteth folly.” 


GIACOMO BENINCASA, the father of that fairest of pre- 
Reformation Saints, St. Catherine of Sienna, was a just 
and upright man, ruling his spirit in the fear of God, and 
with a temper as even as a calm. If he saw any of his 
household vexed and jarred, he would say cheerfully, 
‘ Now then, don’t put yourself out, or give way to unkind- 
ness, and God will bless you.” And once when brought to 
the brink of ruin by an enemy, he still preserved his sweet- 
ness of spirit, and would calm his wife’s complaints by 
saying, “ Let him alone, dear; let him alone, and God will 
pless you, and show him his error.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 183 


CCCXIII. Impatience. Prov.xiv. 29. “He that ts slow 
to wrath ts of great understanding: but he that is hasty of 
spirit exalteth folly.” 


REv. THOMAS SCOTT, having gone on board a packet on 
one occasion when it did not sail at all punctually to the 
time which had been named, sat down to read in the 
cabin. A gentleman who had expressed much impatience 
and displeasure at the delay, at length addressed himself 
to him, observing that his quietness was quite provoking ; 
that he seemed ready to put up with anything. His reply 
was: “Sir, I dare say I shall get to the end of our voyage 
just as soon as you will!” 


CCCXIV. A Soft Answer. Prov.xv. 1. “4 soft answer 
turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger.” 


A LITTLE Sister of the Poor, who went about begging for 
money and broken food and cast-off clothing for the needy, 
one day asked help from one who was rich and by position 
at least a gentleman. He had a great dislike to being 
asked for alms, and after roughly refusing her, at last even 
struck the Sister. She only said gently, “That was for 
myself; now won’t you give me something for my poor ?” 
And the man was so ashamed of himself that he gave her 
a liberal subscription. 


CCCXV. The Painted Eye. Prov. xv. 3. “Zhe eyes of 
the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good.” 


SOME years ago there lived in an old-fashioned square on 
the “south side” of Edinburgh, a widow lady, who, in 
order to eke out her slender means of subsistence, let part 
of her house to lodgers. Her husband, who had been a 
portrait-painter of some note, had but lately died, and left 
her a nicely-furnished house, though but little means to 
support it. 

A few sketches of his art still remained, and among 
others which she highly valued was a beautifully-painted 
eye. At the period in which the painter lived, it was not 
an uncommon thing among a few eccentric persons te 


184 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


have one of their eyes copied, and presented to a friend 
as a token of affection. 

The painting in question was a remarkable production ; 
the eye being so exquisitely painted, that to an imaginative 
beholder it seemed to reflect his own feelings, and to re- 
spond to them in sorrow or in joy; to flash with anger, 
or beam with tenderness, 

In course of time it happened that a young man, sadly 
given to evil courses, became the tenant of the widow's 
parlour where hung the painted eye. A year or two 
previously he had left his distant home to attend the uni- 
versity, where he was now studying for the medical pro- 
fession. The parting counsel of his father had been, to 
remember at all times, and under all circumstances, that 
the eye of God was upon him. He promised, and at first 
sincerely intended to let this thought regulate his conduct ; 
but trusting to his own strength, and meeting with com- 
panions whose love of pleasure and sinful ways too well 
suited the natural corruption of his unrenewed heart, he 
plunged recklessly into excess of riot, and almost succeeded 
in banishing from his mind the recollection that there was 
a God above, to whom all his ways were known. Judge, 
then, of his discomfiture and annoyance to see an eye 
gazing at him from the wall of his new chamber! He 
tried, but in vain, to hide from its view by sitting with his 
back towards that part of the room. But the conscious- 
ness that it was there, that it was fixed upon him, so 
disturbed his mind that he could not rest. Remorse and 
terror seized upon him, and with a desperate effort he 
rushed to the picture and turned its face to the wall! 

The good widow, little surmising that a picture she so 
highly valued could be in any way distasteful to her lodger, 
duly turned it round again ; and much she wondered when 
the curious accident occurred again and again; for the 
unfortunate youth tried in vain to bear the sight of the 
eye, which now seemed to flash with anger, or again, to 
gaze upon him with tender reproach. He could not bear 
it. But he hardened his heart, and finally quitted his 
lodging. 

How is it with thee? Does the remembrance that 
God’s eye ts ever upon thee rejoice thy heart and influence 
thy conduct in everything? Art thou working as under 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 185 


the eye of thy Master, who seeth in secret, and will reward 
thee openly? 


CCCXVI. A Word ina Railway Carriage. Prov. 
xv. 23. ‘“‘A word spoken in due season, how good ts tt!” 


A RETIRED naval officer was once travelling by rail in 
Lancashire. When the train stopped at some station, a 
number of cattle-dealers and drovers entered the carriage. 
They were all excited, and it was soon evident that one 
of the company was being made a laughing-stock by the 
rest, and at last he was irritated, and uttered some oaths. 
The officer put his hand on his shoulder, and said, * Sir, 
you must not swear.” The man looked at him and said, 
“And pray who made you, sir, a conductor over this 
carriage?” “No one,” replied the officer ; “ but I am your 
friend, and you will say so before night.” “Indeed I 
won't,” retorted the angry man; “there’s many a bad one 
that goes to meetings.” “Too true,” replied the officer, 
“but there’s never a swearer that goes to heaven.” This 
caused deep thought, and little more was said; but when 
the train stopped, the man, much softened, took the officer 
by the hand, and with real feeling said, “I don’t like ye 
the less for what ye said to me.” 


CCCXVII. The Word in Season. Prov. xv. 23. “4 
word spoken in due season, how good ts it /” 


A PENNSYLVANIA family, which need not be named, con- 
sisted of father, mother, and two little girls—the elder, Ida, 
in her ninth year, and Katie, a little over six. The mother 
had found an interest in Christ four or five months before. 
Being advised by her pastor to institute family prayer with 
her two children, she did so every evening. The children 
usually prayed as well as the mother, and soon satisfied 
their friends that they had met a spiritual change. Little 
Katie became deeply interested in her father, and one 
evening, when about to engage in family devotion, entreated 
him to come and kneel with them in prayer. He gently 
replied, “No, Katie ; I will lie here on the lounge, and you 
can pray forme.” And they did pray, each in her own 
simple way, “ Lord, help papa, and make him a good man.” 
Shortly after that, when at the table, little Katie said, 


186 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


“Papa, you must pray before you eat ;” but he replied, 
“ Katie, dear, I don’t know how to pray.” Then she went 
to him, and putting his hands together in the childish 
form, told him to pray, ‘Our Father who art in heaven.” 
By this time he was pretty well broken down, as most any 
father would have been. He soon became deeply in earnest 
in seeking Christ, and one day while he was praying, Katie 
came, and putting her arms around his neck said, “ Papa, 
can’t you love Jesus?” One night the father, not being 
able to sleep, went downstairs to pray. This movement 
awakened Katie, and she followed him, and putting her 
arms around his neck, prayed for him most tenderly. With 
the aid of so loving and faithful a helper, he soon realized 
achange. He found his Saviour, and openly united with 
the Church. Who can estimate the joy of that household, 
and what an illustration it furnishes of the reward which 
comes from saying the “ Word in season” ! 


CCCXVIII. Greedy of Gain. Prov. xv. 27. “He that 
ts greedy of gain troubleth his own house.” 


A YOUNG man once picked up a sovereign lying in the 
road, Ever afterwards, as he walked along, he kept his 
eye steadfastly on the ground, in hopes of finding another. 
And, in the course of his long life, he did pick up at 
different times a good amount of gold and silver. But all 
these days, as he was looking for them, he saw not that 
the heaven was bright above him, and nature was beautiful 
around. He never once allowed his eye to look up from 
the mud and filth in which he sought the treasure; and, 
when he died a rich old man, he only knew this fair earth 
of ours as a dirty road to pick up money as we walk along, 


CCCXIX. Preaching and Praying. Prov. xy. a9. 
““ He heareth the prayer of the righteous.” 


THERE is a legend to this effect: A certain preacher, 
whose sermons converted men by scores, received a reve- 
lation from heaven that not one of the conversions was 
owing to his talents or eloquence, but all to the prayers 
of an illiterate lay brother, who sat on the pulpit steps, 
pleading all the time for the success of the sermon. it 
may, in the all-revealing day, be so with us. We may 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 18) 


discover, after having laboured long and wearily in 
preaching, that all the honour belongs to another builder, 
whose prayers were gold, silver, and precious stones, 
while our sermonisings being apart from prayer, were but 
hay and stubble. 


CCCXX. A Last Farewell. Prov. xv. 33. “Before 


honour is humility.” 


ON the occasion of a Welsh minister’s death, Mr. Matthew 
Henry preached the funeral sermon, and thus describes 
the heavenly frame in which he closed his life on earth: 
“ His solemn farewell to his children and pupils, the good 
counsel he gave them, the blessing with which he blessed 
them, and the testimony he bore with his dying lips to 
the good ways of God wherein he had walked, I hope 
they will never forget, and that particularly we should re- 
member and practise the last thing he recommended— 
humility. ‘It is” said he, ‘one of the brightest orna- 
ments of a young minister to be humble.’ The words of 
God, which he had made his songs in the house of his 
pilgrimage, were his delightful entertainment when his 
tabernacle was in taking down.” 


CCCXXI. A Bishop’s Veneration for White- 
field. Prov. xvi. 7. “ When a man’s ways please the Lord, 
He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” 


THE Countess of Huntingdon was converted through the 
means of her sister, Lady Margaret Hastings, who herself 
had been converted through the preaching of the lay 
Methodists. 

The Countess sent a message to the Wesleys, avowing 
her great change, and identifying herself with their 
religious movements. Her husband, the Earl of Hunt- 
ingdon, an excellent and pious man, was concerned at this, 
and recommended her to converse with Dr. Benson, Bishop 
ot Gloucester, his former tutor. The Bishop cautioned her 
against “Evangelical Methodism ;” but the Countess 
pressed him so hard with the Articles and Homilies of his 
own Church, that at length he got angry, and abruptly 
left her, expressing his regret that he had ever laid hands 
upon George Whitefield, to whom he attributed this 


188 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


change. “My Lord,” she replied, “mark my words: 
when you come upon your dying bed, that will be one of 
the few ordinations you will reflect upon with compla- 
cency.” The prediction was singularly verified ; for when 
near his death, the Bishop sent ten guineas to Whitefield, 
as an expression of his great veneration for his character 
and work, with a request to be remembered by him in his 
prayers. 


CCCXXII. An Enemy turnedinto a Friend. Prov. 
xvi. 7. “ When a man’s ways please the Lord, He naketh 
even his enemies to be at peace with him.” 


DuRING Luther’s journey, a noble knight of the vicinity, 
learning that he was to tarry at a certain place, and 
yearning for the honours and emoluments that would 
accrue could he be safely caught up and transported to 
Rome, resolved to hazard the attempt. He ordered his 
armed retinue to prepare hastily, for there was no time to 
be lost, the aspiring noble being urged and commended 
to the task by his confessor, who assured him that he 
would be doing a good work, and would save many souls. 
He set out at early dawn, making his way along the 
picturesque Berg- Strasse, or mountain road, that skirts the 
forest of the Odenwald, between Darmstadt and Heidel- 
berg. Arriving at the gates of Miltenberg in the evening, 
he found the city illuminated, and the town itself full of 
people, who had come thither to hear and see Luther. 
More indignant than ever was the noble knight; indig- 
nation grew to rage when, arriving at his hotel, the host 
greeted him, “ Well, well, Sir Count, has Luther brought 
you here too? Pity you are too late. You should have 
heard him. The people cannot cease praising him.” In 
no mood for eulogy, the knight sought the privacy of his 
room. Awakened in the morning by the matin bell of 
the chapel, sleep had assuaged his ire, and his thoughts 
were at home, where he had left an infant daughter at the 
point of death. As he drew aside his curtain, he saw the 
tlicker of a candle in the window opposite, and waiting a 
moment heard a deep, manly voice utter the words, “In 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost. Amen.” He heard the voice further continuing 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 189 


in a strong, fervent petition for the whole Christian Church, 
and the victory of the holy gospel over sin and the world. 

Being a devout man, his interest was aroused, and 
donning his armour, he inquired of the landlord who that 
earnest man was that he heard across the street. “That 
earnest man,” responded the landlord, “is the arch heretic 
Luther himself. Has your grace a message for him?” 
“ Ay,” said the knight, “ but I will deliver it with my own 
lips” and with a dubious shake of the head he crossed 
the street, entered the house, and in a moment stood 
before the object of his search. Luther instinctively rose 
from his chair, surprised and not a little disconcerted by 
the sudden appearance of a stalwart armed knight, perhaps 
having an unpleasant suspicion of his errand, “What is 
the object of this visit?” inquired Luther. Twice and 
thrice he repeated his question before received a reply. 
At length the knight, having recovered somewhat from 
the spell upon him, said, “Sir, you are far better than I. 
God forgive me for intending to harm you. I came here 
to make you a prisoner ; you have made a prisoner of me 
instead. It is impossible for a man to pray as you pray 
to be an enemy of the holy Church, a heretic.” “God be 
praised,” said Luther, now relieved from his suspicions ; 
‘it is His word and Spirit that has subdued you, not mine, 
though I may have been chosen to bring His word to honour 
in Christendom. Go now your way, therefore, in peace, my 
lord. He that hath begun a good work in you will per- 
form it to Christ’s coming. If it be God’s will, you shall 
yet behold miracles ; how the Lord will break many swords 
like yours, and cut the spear in sunder, as He has to-day.” 
Convinced and confirmed, the knicht lost no time in 
making his way homeward, attended by his retinue, now 
still more curious to know the object of this hasty expedi- 
ion. Arriving at the bedside of his daughter, he found her 
now convalescent and out of danger, and fualiing on his 
knees he thanked God for all that had happened. A few 
years later, when Luther confessed his faith before Charles 
V., among the assembled nobles who stood on Luther’s 
side was this knight, who had once thought to overthrow 
and destroy him. 


tgo OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCXXIII. A Kind Tone of Voice. Prov. xvi. 24. 
“ Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and 
health to the bones.” 


THE law of kindness may be violated in the tones of the 
voice. “Not so much what my mother said to me, as the 
way she said it,” was once remarked by a despairing young 
man, who had sadly strayed from the precepts of the 
parental roof. “Oh,” said he, as the tears coursed down his 
cheeks, “the way my mother said that last thing to me!” 
Whitefield says, “I carefully sought out those acceptable 
tones that were like a spell upon the heart, even when the 
words were unremembered.” So wonderfully modulated 
was Whitefield’s voice, that Garrick said “he could make 
men either laugh or cry by pronouncing the word Mesopo- 
tamia.” 

“ Mother,” said a little girl, “I like our preacher when he 
comes to see us, but I don’t like to hear him preach.” On 
being asked why, she said, “ His preaching sounded like 
scolding all the time.” 


CCCXXIV. The Ways of Death. Prov. xvi. 25. 
“There ts a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end 
thereof are the ways of death,” 


On the Lake of Geneva there stands a gloomy castle, where 
prisoners used to be confined, and in it there was a dark 
dungeon, with a dreadful staircase called the “ oud/iettes.” 
Sometimes the keeper went to a poor prisoner, and told 
him that now he was to obtain. his life and liberty, and 
requested him to follow him. The prisoner went along 
thankful and glad, with visions of home and happiness. 
He reached the staircase, and was told to go down, step by 
step, in the darkness, that he might reach the castle gate, 
and so be free. Alas! it was a broken stair. A few steps 
down into the darkness, and the next step he took he 
found no footing, but fell down fifty or sixty feet, to be 
dashed to pieces amongst rocks, and then to have his 
mangled body buried in the lake. 


,. 
CCCXXV. Christian Forbearance. Prov. xvi. 32. 
“« He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” 


IN Mungo Park’s relation of his travels in Africa, he gives 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 191 


a striking example of the good effects of Christian forbear- 
ance, even among uncivilized men. He says after having 
passed through the greatest distresses, he arrived at the 
village of Song, where the people refused to receive him 
within the gate, though the country was infested with 
lions, Here Mungo Park with much difficulty collected 
grass for his horse, and lay down under a tree near the 
gate; but being aroused by the roar of a lion, he climbed 
the tree for safety. The inhabitants, who having believed 
him to be a Moor, would not admit him, notwithstanding 
the danger that threatened him, till midnight, when, 
convinced ef their error, they opened the gate, declaring 
that no Moor ever waited long at the gate of any city 
without cursing all the inhabitants. 


CCCXXVI. A Good Wife is from the Lord. 
Prov. xix. 4. “A prudent wife is from the Lord.” 


SOLOMON says, a prudent or good wife is from the Lord, 
and not a few have experienced the truth of his assertion. 
One reason why so many fail to get good wives is, that 
they do not ask the Lord for them. They follow their 
own impulses, or the suggestions of interest, and do not 
ask counsel of God and commit their way unto Him. In 
the most important of all earthly matters they take 
counsel of their feelings, and lean to their own understand- 
ings. 

Thomas Shepherd, the first pastor of Cambridge, and 
one of the most godly and useful of the New Lngland 
fathers, acted in accordance with Solomon's doctrine. 
“ Now, about this time, I had a great desire to change my 
estate by marriage; and I had been praying three years 
before, that the Lord would carry me to such a place where 
I might have a meet yoke-fellow.” 

He was at length invited to take up his abode with Sir 
Richard Dailey, where his labours were blessed to the 
conversion of most of the members of the family, one of 
whom in due.time became his yoke-fellow. “And when 
He had fitted a wife for me,” says Mr. S., “ He then gave 
me her, who was a most sweet, humble woman, fuil of 
Christ, and a very discerning Christian, a wife who was 
most incomparably loving to me, and every way amiable 


192 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


and holy, and endued with a very sweet spirit of prayer. 
And thus the Lord answered my desires.” 

Men may smile at the guileless simplicity with which 
he tells his story, but they would do well to imitate his 
example. 


CCCXXVII. Slothful Habits. Prov. xix.15. “S/oth- 
Juiness casteth into @ deep sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer 
hunger.” 


THE following is an enecdcte ci & venerated servant 2f 
God—Charles Simeon: When i was an undergraduate, I 
remember hearing a friend of his relate this anecdote of 
him : “ We were sitting,” he said, “in his room at college, 
three or four of us round his table. Dinner finished, we 
entered into conversation. Charles Simeon led with that 
wonderful power of conversation which so distinguished him. 
Turning round to one of us, he said, ‘ Will you have a nut 
to crack?’ Thinking, for the moment, he referred to the 
fruit lying on the table, some indefinite reply was made, 
when he remarked with a smile, ‘Oh, you do not under- 
stand ; I want you tocrack a spiritual nut. The nut is a 
very small one; it is a single word ; you will find it in the 
third chapter of Philippians. I will read the passage to you, 
and will you point out the emphatic word in the verse, 
‘Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be ¢ius minded : 
and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall re- 
veal even this unto you.’ They all agreed that ‘ t#us’ was 
the nut, the emphatic word, when he replied, ‘ Well, which 
of you can crack it?’ One said one thing, and another 
said another. At last he replied, ‘It seems to me to have 
a threefold kernel; let me try and crack the nut, and give 
you the kernel. As I read the whole chapter, I find 
three prominent thoughts running through it, and they 
are all summed up in that little word ‘##us.’ Here are the 
three—‘ Wo lofty thoughts, no worldly ambition, no slothfut 
habits. That is the kernel, he says. Then he struck out 
into a strain of conversation upon the subject, becoming 
more and more energetic as he enlarged upon it, until he 
came at last to the words, ‘no slothful habits, when he 
sprang to his feet with the energ gy that characterised the 
good old man, and ran round the room, as he said, ‘ Why, 


: 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 194 


the Apostle talks about runninz, not creeping, or trifling, 
Some of us go creeping to heaven, and the wonder is that 
we ever get there. St. Paul speaks of himself as pressing 
towards the mark. When a man is running a race he 
strains his every nerve to win it. Some of us fancy we 
are to be carried into the kingdom of glory, but if we 
would win the crown, we must throw all our energies into 
the race. It is not enough to accept this doctrine, and the 
theory, but let us remember that God has given us natural 
powers, in order that we may employ them ; and only as we 
employ them, can we expect to win the prize.’” 


CCCXXVIII. A Loan tothe Lord. Prov. xix. 17. 
“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and 
that whith he hath given will He pay him again.” 


A POOR man with an empty purse came one day to Michael 
Feneberg, the godly pastor of Seeg, in Bavaria, and begged 
three crowns, that he might finish his journey. It was all 
the money Feneberg had, but as he besought him so 
earnestly in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus he 
gave it. Immediately after he found himself in great 
outward need, and seeing no way of relief, he prayed, 
saying: “Lord, I lent Thee three crowns ; Thou hast not 
yet returned them, and Thou knowest how I need them. 
Lord, I pray Thee, give them back.” The same day a 
messenger brought a money-letter, which Gossner, his as- 
sistant, reached over to Feneberg, saying: “ Here, father, 
is what you expended.” The letter contained two hundred 
thalers, or about one hundred and fifty dollars, which the 
poor traveller had begged from a rich man for the Vicar ; 
and the childlike old man, in joyful amazement, cried out : 
“ Ah, dear Lord, one dare ask nothing of Thee, for straight- 
way Thou makest one feel so much ashamed.” 


CCCXXIX. Can you Trust the Security? Prov. 
xix. 17. “He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto the 
Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again.” 


IT is said that Dean Swift was once called to preach on 

behalf of a public charity,and having taken the above as 

his text, he closed the book, and said, “ Now, if you can 
16) 


194 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


trust the security, down with your dust. The collection will 
be made.” 


CCCXXX. Children’s Help. Prov. xx.11r. “Even a 
child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and 
whether it be right.” 


THERE was a terrible storm one cold winter’s night, a few 
years ago, and a ship was wrecked just opposite a fishing 
village in the north. The crew got into a boat and rowed 
for the shore. They were not a dozen yards from the 
beach, when their boat grounded on a sand-bar, and stuck 
fast. The fishermen ran down to help them, and the 
sailors flung them a rope, and told them to pull with all 
their might. The fishermen did so; but, though they 
were very fine fellows, they could not manage it. Then 
their wives said, “Let us take hold, and pull too.” But 
though the zomen strained every nerve, the boat did not 
move! At last the chz/dren asked to join in; and those 
who could, got hold of the rope, and the rest got hold of 
their fathers’ smocks and their mothers’ gowns, and then 
came the “long pull! and the strong pull! and the pull ALL 
TOGETIJER!” and the thing was done! the boat shot over 
the sand-bar, and the poor shipwrecked sailors were 
saved ! 
The children’s weight made all the difference in the pull! 


CCCXXXI. George Fox and his False Accusers, 
Prov, xx. 22. “ Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait 
on the Lord, and He shall save thee.” 


AFTER being imprisoned for twenty weeks, the faithful 
servant of Christ, George Fox, was released in 1660. He 
thus speaks of his false accuser in his journal: “Thus I 
was sect at liberty by the king’s command, the Lord’s 
power having wonderfully wrought for the clearing of my 
innocency, and Porter, who committed me, not daring to 
appear to make good the charge he had falsely suggested 
against me. Terror took hold of Justice Porter, for he was 
afraid 1 would take the advantage of the law against him 
for my wrong imprisonment, and thereby undo him, his 
wife and children. And, indeed, | was puton to make him 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 195 


and the rest examples ; but I said I should leave them to 
the Lord: if the Lord did forgive them, I should not 
trouble myself with them.” 


CCCXXXII. Sabbath School Instruction. Prov. 
xxii. 6. “ Train up a child in the way he should go; and 
when he ts old, he will not depart from it.” 


“ SABBATH-SCHOOL instruction, although good as far as it 
goes, does not supply adequate moral education for the 
juvenile hordes which infest the streets of our large cities. 
The interval between Sabbath and Sabbath is too wide. 
It is like spreading a net with meshes seven inches wide 
instead of one, before a shoal of herrings. By the great 
gap of the week the little Arabs easily slip through, in 
spite of the stout string which you extend across their 
path on the Sabbath evening. Ply the work by all means, 
and ply it hopefully. Labour for the Lord in that depart- 
ment will not be lost. Saving truth is thereby deposited 
in many minds, which the Spirit of God will make fruitful 
in a future day. Ply the work of Sabbath schools, but let 
not the existence and abundance of these efforts deceive 
us into the belief that the work is adequately done. The 
Sabbath school cannot train up a child. The six days’ 
training at home, if it be evil, will, in the battle of life, 
carry it over the one day’s teaching in the school, however 
good it may be.” 


CCCXXXIII. Knowing the Scriptures from a 
Child. Prov. xxii. 6. “ Zrain up a child in the way he 
should go.” 


JOHN RUSKIN, in his “ Preterita,” describes his daily 
Bible lessons which his mother taught him. He says: 
“T have next with deep gratitude to chronicle what I owed 
to my mother for the resolutely consistent lessons which 
so exercised me in the Scriptures as to make every word 
of them familiar to my ear in habitual music; yet in that 
familiarity reverenced, as transcending all thought, and 
ordaining all conduct. This she effected, not by her own 
sayings or personal authority, but simply by compelling 
me to read the book thoroughly for myself. As soon as 


196 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


I was able to read with fluency, she began a course of 
Bible work with me, which never ceased till I went to 
Oxford. She read alternate verses with me, watching, 
it first, every intonation of my voice, and correcting the 
false ones, till she made me understand the verse, if within 
my reach, rightly and energetically. It might be beyond 
me altogether ; that she did not care about ; but she made 
sure that, as soon as I got hold of it at all, I should get 
hold of it by the right end. Ifa name was hard, the better 
the exercise in pronunciation; if a chapter was tiresome, 
the better lesson in patience ; if loathsome, the better lesson 
in faith that there was some use in its being so outspoken. 
After our chapters (from two to three a day, according to 
their length, the first thing after breakfast, and no interrup- 
tion from servants allowed—none from visitors, who either 
joined in the reading, or had to stay upstairs—and none 
from any visitings or excursions, except real travelling), 
I had to learn a few verses by heart, or repeat, to make sure 
I had not lost, something of what was already known ; and 
with the chapters thus gradually possessed from the first 
word to the last, I had to learn the whole body of the 
fine old Scottish paraphrases, which are good, melodious, 
and forceful verse, and to which, together with the Bible 
itself, I owe the first cultivation of my ear in sound.” 


CCCXXXIV. The Robber’s Bible. Prov. xxii. 6. 
“ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is 
old, he will not depart from it.” 


THERE was a strange auction in one of the deep, inaccessible 
dells of the Black Forest, about a century ago. It was in 
the dead of night. The place was lighted by torches, which 
cast a ghastly glare through the darkness of the abyss. 
Savage-looking mer, armed to the teeth, were sitting in 
a circle, while one stood in the midst, holding up articles 
for sale. It was a gang of brigands, who that evening had 
robbed a stage-coach. According to their custom, they 
were engaged in selling the stolen articles among them- 
selves. After a good many pieces of dress and travelling- 
bags had been disposed of, and while the glass and the 
bottle were going from hand to hand, and each member 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 197 


of the company vied with his neighbour in making un- 
seemly jokes and setting the assembly in a roar, a New 
Testament was held up last of all. The man who acted as 
auctioneer introduced this “ article” with some blasphemous 
remarks, which made the cavern resound with laughter. 
One of the company suggested jokingly that he should 
read a chapter for their edification. This was unanimously 
applauded, and the auctioneer, turning up a page at ran- 
dom, began reading in a voice of mock-devotion. While 
the company were greatly amused at this sacrilegious scoff- 
ing, it was not observed that one of them, a middle-aged 
man, who was one of the oldest members of the gang, and 
used to be foremost both in their crimes and in their de- 
bauchery, became silent, and clasping his hands on his 
knees, was absorbed in deep thought. The passage which 
the auctioneer read was the same which that man’s father 
had read thirty years ago at family worship on the morn- 
ing of the day when he, to escape the hands of the police, 
fled from the parental dwelling, never to return again. At 
the sound of the words, which he remembered so well, the 
happy family circle of which he had been a member, rose 
to his fancy. In his imagination he saw them all seated 
round the breakfast-table, which was crowned with the 
blessings of a new day. He saw his venerable old father 
sitting with the open Bible reading the chapter that was to 
prepare them for prayer. He saw his kind, tender-hearted 
mother sitting by his father’s side, attentively listening to 
the Word of God. He saw himself, with his brothers and 
sisters, joining in the devotional exercise, which entreated 
for them the guidance, protection, and blessing of God 
during the day. He saw it all as clearly before his mind 
as if it had happened that morning. Since leaving home, 
he had never opened a Bible, never offered up a prayer, 
never heard a single word that reminded him of God and 
eternity. But now, at this moment, it was as if his soul 
awoke out of a long sleep of thirty years—as if the snow 
of a long, long winter melted away on a sudden at the 
sound of that well-known Bible word; and all the words 
which his good father had spoken to him from his child- 
hood, and all the lessons, admonitions, and prayers of ms 
pious mother—which then were scornfully given to the 
winds—now came flying back to his memory, as the 


198 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


ee 


winter crop bursts forth through the snow when the vernal — 
sun unshackles the fields, and causes the hidden life to rise © 
from its long dreary grave. Perfectly absorbed in those — 
hallowed recollections, he forgot all that was round him, ~ 
heard nothing of all the scoffing, laughing, and blaspheming 
that was passing in his presence, until, on a sudden, he was 
awaked out of his reverie by a rude tap on the shoulder, 
which was accompanied by the question, “Now, old dreamer, 
what will you give for that book? You need it more than 
any one of us, for you are undoubtedly the biggest sinner 


under the firmament.” ‘So I am,” he answered, struck to 
the very bottom of his heart by the truth which he recog- 
nised in that rough joke. “Give me the book. I will 


pay its full price.” The next day the brigands dispersed 
through the neighbourhood to turn their bargains into 
money. The man who bought the bible went also on his 
errand ; but he directed his steps to no receiving-house. He 
repaired to a lonely place, where he spent the whole day 
and night in the agonies of unspeakable remorse, and but 
for the consoling words which his Bible held out to him, he 
would certainly have made away with himself. But God 
had mercy upon that repenting sinner, and sent a message 
of peace and reconciliation to his heart. The next day, on 
entering a village where he resolved to speak to a minister, 
he heard that the gang was overtaken the night before by 
a detachment of soldiers, and taken to prison. His resolu- 
tion was confirmed now all the more. He told the minister 
the whole of his life’s story, and requested him to direct 
him to the police office, where he gave himself up to the 
hands of justice. This proof of the sincerity of his repent- 
ance saved his life. His comrades were all put to death 
but he obtained a reprieve from the Grand Duke, to whom 
his story was reported. After an imprisonment of some 
years, he was set free on account of his exemplary conduct. 
A Christian nobleman took him into his service, and he 
proved a blessing to his master’s household, till he died 
in peace, praising Jesus Christ who came into the world 
to save sinners, of whom he confessed himself to be the 
chicf, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 195 


CCCXXXV. Rebuking a King. Prov. xxii. 11. ‘For 
the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.” 


THE timidity which hesitates to rebuke profanity was once 
shamed by a king who had been himself rebuked for pro- 
fanity. Riding along the highway in disguise, and seeing 
a soldier at an inn, he stopped and asked him to drink ale 
with him. On an oath which the king uttered while they 
were drinking, the soldier remarked, “I am sorry to hear 
young gentlemen swear.” 

His majesty took no notice of it, but swore again. 

The soldier immediately said, “I’ll pay part of the ale, 
if you please, and go; for I so hate swearing that, if you 
were the king himself, I should tell you of it.” 

“ Should you indeed ?” asked the king. 

“1 should,” was the emphatic reply of his subject. 

Not long after, the king gave him an opportunity to be 
“as good as his word.” Having invited some lords to 
dine with him, he sent for the soldier, and bade him to 
stand near him, in order to serve him if he was needed. 
Presently the king, not now in disguise, uttered an oath; 
And deterentially the soldier immediately said, “ Should 
not my lord and king fear an oath ?” 

Looking at the heroic soldier, and then at his company 
of obsequious noblemen, the king severely remarked: 
“There, my lords, is an honest man. He can respectfully 
remind me of the great sin of swearing ; but you can sit 
here and let me stain my soul by swearing, and not so 
much as tell me of it!” 


CCCXXXVI. A Drunkard’s Child. Prov. xxiii. az, 
“ The drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty.” 


A SUNDAY-SCHOOL teacher handed to her scholars little 
slips of paper on which was printed the question, “ What 
have I to be thankful for?” Among the replies that were 
given on the following Sunday was the following pathetic 
sentence, written by a little girl who had learned by bitter 
processes the painful truths it told: “I am thankful there 
are no public-houses in heaven.” 


200 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. : 


CCCXXXVII. One who Delighted to Honour his j 


Parents. Prov. xxiii. 24, 25. ‘‘ He that begetteth a wise 


‘ 
4 


child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall 


be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.” 


A PLEASING incident is told of the late Henry Fawcett, 
Postmaster-General. He was very much attached to his 
old home, and he had been in the habit of writing a weekly 
letter to his parents. He happened one day to ask his 
sister whut gave them most pleasure? She replied, “ Your 
letters.” From that time, though overwhelmed with official 
and parliamentary work, he wrote twice, instead of once 
a week. ‘These letters are homely and affectionate, and 
everywhere imply that constant desire to give pleasure, 
which is more significant than the strongest professions of 
love. 


CCCXXXVIII. Calvin’s Motto. Prov. xxiii. 26. “My 
son, give me thy heart.” 


CALVIN’S seal had engraven on it a hand holding a burn- 
ing heart, with the motto, “I give Thee all; I keep back 
nothing for myself!” 


CCCXXXIX. For Teachers and Parents. Prov. 
xxiv. 10. “Jf thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength 
ts small.” 


THE Rev. Dr. Tyng, speaking of Sunday-school teachers 
who “ get tired” and leave their classes, says: “ Everybody 
gets tired except the devil; he is a bishop that is never 
out of his diocese.” There is as much truth as blunt force 
in the remark. It is worth keeping in mind on entering 
the Christian campaign. 


_CCCXL. The Helping Hand. Provigo 
thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and 
those that are ready to be slain.” 


THESE words which follow speak more loudly to us because 
they come from Bisliop Simpson, one who was himself an 
illustration of what he commends: 

“T shall never forget the feelings I had once when climb- 


| OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 201 


ing one of the pyramidsof Egypt. When half-way up, my 
strength failing, I feared I should never be able to reach 
the summit or “get back again. I well remember the help 
_ given, by Arab hands, drawing me on farther; and the 
_ step I could not quite make myself, because too great for 
' my wearied frame, the little help given me—sometimes 

more and sometimes less—enabled me to go up, step by 
| RereP> step by step, until at last I reached the top, and 
breathed the pure air, and had a grand outlook from that 
lofty height. 

“ And so, in life’s journey, we are climbing. Weare feeble. 
Every one of us, now and then, needs a little help; and, if 
we have risen a step higher than.some other, let us reach 
down for our brother’s hand, and help him to stand beside 
us. And thus, joined hand in hand, we shall go on con- 
quering, step by step, until the glorious eminence shall be 
gained. Oh, how many need help in this world—poor 
afflicted ones; poor sorrowing ones; poor tempted ones, 
who have been overcome, who have been struggling, not 
quite able to get up the step; trying, falling; trying, 
falling ; trying, desponding; hoping, almost despairing! 
Oh, give such a one help, a little kindly aid, and the step 
may be taken, and another step may then be taken ; and, 
instead of dying in wretchedness at the base, he may, by a 
brother’s hand, be raised to safety, and finally to glory. 


CCCXLI. An Evangelist. Prov. xxv.11. “A word 
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” 


Dr. TALMAGE says, “ How few Christian people there are 
who understand how to fasten the truths of God and religion 
to the souls of men. Truman Osborne, one of the evan- 
gelists who went through this country some years ago, had 
a wonderful art in the right direction. He came to my 
father’s house one day, and while we were all seated in 
the room, he said: ‘Mr. Talmage, are all your children 
Christians?’ Father said: ‘ Yes, all but De Witt. Then 
Truman Osborne looked down into the fire-place, and 
began to tell a story of a storm that came on the moun- 
tains, and all the sheep were in the fold: but there was 
one lamb outside that perished in the storm. Had he 
looked me in the eye, I should have been angered when 


202 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


he told that story; but he looked into the fire-place, and 
it was so pathetically and beautifully done that I nev 


found any peace until I was sure I was inside the fold, 
where the other sheep are.” 


CCCXLII. Balaam’s Ass. Prov. xxvi.5. “Answer a 
Sool according to his folly.” 


“Do you really believe that an ass ever spoke to Balaam ?” 
queried a man who prided himself on his intellect. Coleridge, 
to whom the question was put, reflected: “ My friend, I 
have no doubt whatever that the story is true. I have 
been spoken to in the same way myself.” The man of the 
inquiring mind retired for meditation. 

He was answered ‘according to his folly, which is often 
as good a form of reply as such quibblers deserve. Much 
of the beauty of the answer lay in the courtesy which said — 
so little but meant so much. A hard word becomes all 
the harder by being softly spoken. To have called the 
man an ass would have shown great weakness, and betrayed 
warm temper, but Coleridge worded his remark well, and 
left the hearer to find out the sting for himself. Here is — 
a lesson of practical common-sense which those who deal : 
with sceptics would do well to learn. 


CCCXLIII. Seeking the Society of Christians. 
Prov. xxvii. 9. ‘Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart ; se 
doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.” 


“ ANE stick’ll never burn! Put more wood on the fire, 
laddie ; ane stick’ll never burn!” my old Scotch grand- 
father used to say to his boys. Sometimes, when the fire 
in the heart burns low, and love to the Saviour grows faint, 
it would glow warm and bright again if it could only touch 
another stick. We are weak and imperfect. A hundred 
things—health, digestion, anxieties, little frets and cares— 
hinder our soul’s progress. The spirit cannot soar, for the 
flesh constantly keeps it down. There is a true life begun 
in us, but it flickers like a candle in the wind. 

What we need, next to earnest prayer to God and 
communion with Christ, is communion with each other. 
“Where two or three are gathered together,” the heart 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 203 
burns; love kindles to a fervent heat. Friends, let us 
frequent the society of those who are fellow-pilgrims with 
us to Canaan’s happy land. “Ane stick’ll never burn” as 
a great, generous pile will be sure to. 


CCCXLIV. Trust Not in Vain. Prov. xxviii. 25. “He 
that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.” 


DURING the commercial panic of 1837, there lived in the 
city of W ton an earnest Christian worker. He had a 
large family, but was not rich in this world’s goods. The 
denomination of which he was a member had for several 
years been struggling to complete their house of worship. 
He being an example unto the brethren, had made large 
contributions, and ere he was aware had given several 
thousand dollars to finish the church. Clouds of business 
depression were now gathering thick, and the storm of ruin 
was ready to break forth. About this time he bought and 
shipped a valuable cargo to a wealthy gentleman in New 
York. Several weeks after he was surprised by the cashier 
of the bank hastily entering his place of business, saying 
in an excited manner: “Sir! that New York man has 
failed, and the draft for the cargo has been returned, pro- 
tested. Things are growing darker all the time; no one can 
tell what the end may be.” The cashier was astonished to 
see how self-possessed he remained. He forgot that it had 
been written of the upright man, “He shall not be afraid 
of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord” 
But it was a great blow to him. What could be done? 
The draft was for thousands of dollars. The bank could 
grant no favours, and was bound to have the money. 
Collections were out of the question. Real estate would 
not bring one-fourth of its value. Ruin stared him in the 
face. There was no escape. It took a firm eye and a 
breve heart to stand in his home among his little ones and 
see the grim spectres of poverty and want overshadowing 
them. 

Thirty days of grace were granted, but they were days 
of torture and almost despair. His refuge was in prayer. 
The last day came. The family were assembled as usual 
at the Throne of Grace. He poured out his soul unto God. 
As Hezekiah of old spread out the letter of the wicked 


2A OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


King of Babylon before the Lord, and prayed over it, sc 


did he state his case to the Almighty. He arose comforted. 


Resignation had come. Yes, I can be poor. Yes, I can 
walk where God leads me. Yes, I can go to the bank 
to-day and make myself a pauper, sign away house, home, 
and all. God is still mine, my family are still mine—the 


promises in God’s word are not changed; heaven shall be — 


mine. I trust God for the future. 

He dressed carefully, so as to go through his sad duties 
decently, and sat down to wait until the bank opened. 
While sitting there, three letters were brought in. He 
opered the first. Could his eyes deceive him? It con- 
tained a draft for $1,000, sent by a brother in New 
England. The next letter was from a New York bank, 
authorizing him to draw on it for any amount sufficient to 
tide him over his difficulties. The third letter was from 
the man to whom the cargo had been sent, telling him to 
draw again for the full amount, and the draft would be 
honoured. The tears of thanksgiving streamed down his 
cheeks. “ Now do I know that there is a God in Israel: I 
was brought low, and He helped me.” 
~ When he reached the bank, the directors were in session 
discussing his case. They arose as he entered. The 
president, taking his hand, said: “Sir, we feel very sorry 
for you in your great misfortune. You have our deepest 
sympathy. We only wish we could help you.” 

“Gentlemen,” he replied, “I am very much obliged to 
you for your kindness and sympathy. But I am all right,” 
and forthwith cast the drafts on the table. Then there 
were hearty hand-shakings and congratulations. That 
which, according to human eyesight, came so near being 
his ruin, gave him thenceforth unbounded credit, and laid 
the foundation of a large fortune. 

He was strong, active, cheerful at the age of eighty-four, 
increased in goods, full of years, still trusting in God, 
waiting, like Abraham, to be gathered unto his people. 
“Trust in the Lord, and do good ; and He shall bring it te 
pass.” 


—_— 


_——— 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 205 


CCCXLV. A Wise Decision. Prov. xxx. 8,9. “Give 
me neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with food convenient for 
me: Lest I be full and deny Thee, and say, Who ts the Lord? 
or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in 
vain.” 


WE have a quaint love-letter of Joseph Alleine’s, written 
in 1655 to Mistress Theodosia, his future wife. It is full 
of beautiful godliness and manliness. In it he speaks of 
accepting a charge at Taunton, where the encouragements 
in point of maintenance were small. These are some of 
the principles upon which he went :— 

“First, I lay this for a foundation, that a man’s life con- 
sisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth. 
It was accounted a wise prayer that Agur put up of old, 
that he might only be fed with food convenient for him. 
And certain it is, that where men have least of the world, 
they esteem it least, and live more by faith and in depend- 
ence upon God, casting their care and burden upon Him. 
The Holy Ghost seems to make it a privilege to be brought 
to a necessity of living by faith, as I think I have formerly 
hinted thee, out of Deuteronomy xi. 10, 11, where Canaan 
is preferred before Egypt, in regard to its dependence upon 
God for the former and latter rain, which in Egypt they 
could live without, and have supplies from the river. And 
certainly could we that are unexperienced, but feel the thorns 
of those cares and troubles that there are in gathering and 
keeping much, and the danger when riches increase of 
setting our hearts upon them, we should prize the happi- 
ness of a middle condition much before it. 

“Secondly, I take this for an undoubted truth, that a 
dram of grace is better than a talent of wealth. ‘Tis a 
strange thing to see how Christians generally do judge so 
carnally of things, looking to the things that are seen and 
temporal, and not the things that will stick by us to eternity. 
What is it worth a year? Is the maintenance certain and 
sure, and what changes are there like to be? These are 
the questions we commonly ask first. Yet—What good 
am I like to do? What good am I like to get? These 
should be the main interrogatories.” 


206 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCXLVI. Ingratitude to Parents. Prov. xxx 17. 
“* The eye that mocketh at his father, . . . the ravens of the 
valley shall pick it out.” 


THIS is a terrible denunciation against ingratitude to 
parents, and even in the present day is sometimes virtually 
fulfilled. 

Some years ago, an Irish gentleman who was an exten- 
sive contractor on our public works, was reduced to poverty 
by the profligacy and dishonesty of an ungrateful son. 
The old man lost his wife; and to fill up the cup of his 
sorrow, he lost his sight. Thus poor, friendless, blind, for- 
saken, he found an asylum in the Franklin County Alms- 
house, Pennsylvania. 

Whilst there, his wicked and ungrateful son travelled 
that way. He was informed of his father’s situation and 
desire to see him ; but he refused to see the kind father he 
had ruined. Notice the result. That very day this son 
was overtaken by a storm, and took a severe cold that 
resulted in the destruction of his eyes. He lay in Gettys- 
burg in a critical state, until his funds were exhausted, and 
those who had him in charge took him to the Franklin 
County Alms-house. His father having died the day before, 
he was put in the same room and ‘occupied the same bed, 
and in ashort time followed his neglected and heart-broken 
father to the judgment-seat of Christ. 


CCCXLVII. Value of aChristian Mother. Prov, 
xxxl. 1. is mother taught him. 


THE Bishop of Carlisle thus bears testimony to the value 
of a real Christian mother, at a meeting of mothers and 
daughters. Dr. Harry Goodwin said :— 

“T am one of those who lost their mothers at a very 
early age. I was very little over six years old when my 
dear mother was suddenly taken from me. I mention my 
age that I may put before you the effect which my mother’s 
teaching had upon me, and the tender age at which it 
ceased, and I think we may draw from it some useful 
lessons. Now, then, when I look back to the teaching 
of my mother, what do I think of it? I say deliberately, 
and without any amount of exaggeration, that though I 
have since that time been at school, been under tutors, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 207 


been at college, and had all the experience of life, I do 
not believe that all the lessons that I have received since 
that time put together amount in value and in importance 
to the lessons which I learned from my mother before I 
was seven years old. What did she teach me? She did 
not put me through the fifth or the sixth standard—we 
had not any standards in those days—but she taught me 
a great many things which were better than standards. 

“TI will tell you one of the first lessons she taught me. 
She taught me always to speak the truth: and the lesson 
she gave me concerning truth has never been lost upon me. 
She always brought me up in the feeling that what was to 
be spoken was to be the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth; that there was to be no evasion, that everything 
was to be stated simply and honestly, exactly as it occurred ; 
and I will tell you how she enforced that lesson—she always 
spoke truth to me. I never caught her in any kind of 
deceit ; I always knew that what she said to me she meant. 
I was always sure that if she told me she was going to 
do a thing, she would do it, and no amount of coaxing or 
persuasion would lead her to change her mind. Absolute 
truth, absolute in the smallest matters—that was her prac- 
tice, and that was the lesson that she impressed upon me. 

“Then she taught me to say my prayers. I have as 
vivid a recollection now, at a distance of sixty years, as 
I had at the time, of the manner in which she made me 
kneel down at her knees, and with her hand upon my head, 
taught me the simple prayers which are suitable for child- 
hood. I remember how, when I rose up from my knees, 
she would talk to me about some simple matter suitable 
to my childish days. Those early lessons of prayer have 
never been lost to me; and I remember afterwards, when 
I was at school, and when I was submitted to all the 
temptations and the difficulties to which boys at school 
are stbmitted ; when I was sleeping in a room with boys 
about me who did not pray, and who laughed at those 
who did, I remember well how the thought of my dear 
mother was like a guardian angel over me, and how she 
kept me from the evil which these boys would fain have 
pressed upon me. Then, again, she enforced upon me full 
and complete obedience. it was never enforced with a 
threat ; there was no unkindness, on arbitrariness in the 


208 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


command; but I was never allowed to ask any reason 
I felt perfectly certain of the wisdom which dictated th 
command, and I was always taught to obey, and I learne 
to obey. Then, lastly, I was taught by her, and by practice 
more than words, to keep my temper. She taught me to 
do that by keeping her own.” : 


CCCXLVIII. A Devoted Wife. Prov. xxxi. 11, 12, 
“The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that a 
shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evi 
all the days of her life.” 


THE late Robert Moffat had a most noble and Pitre 
wife in Mary Moffat, who laboured with him in Southern 
Africa unweariedly. She watched over her husband’s 
health and comfort most anxiously for more than fifty 
years, and she used to say that it was a great satisfaction 
to her to provide for the temporal wants of a servant of 
Christ in the mission-field, and she felt, what was true, 
that he never would have been the missionary he was but 
for her care of him. The Home Secretary of the London 
Missionary Society says: “I shall never forget what took 
place in my official room at the Mission House soon after 
their return from Africa. While talking over their- -past 
labours, Mrs. Moffat, looking fondly at her husband first, 
turned to me and said, ‘Robert can never say that I 
hindered him in his work!’ . 

“No, indeed,’ replied Dr. Moffat; ‘but I can tell you 
she has often sent me away from house and home for 
months together for evangelizing work, and in my absence 
has managed the station as well or better than I a 
have done it myself.” 

Even on the very shore of the dark river she would nol 
rest until assured that his wants were being attended to. 

Her husband's first exclamation on finding her really 
gone was, “ For forty-three years I have had her to pray 
for me.” 


CCCXLIX. One of the Virtuous Women. Prov. 
xxxi 20. “She stretcheth out her hand to the poor: yea, she 
reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” | 


HANNAH MORE did a great deal at the close of last 


. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 209 


century for the elevation and instruction of the poor rural 
population round her home at Bath. She was the means 
of starting a number of schools in the country districts, 
where the people were very ignorant and wicked ; and she 
wrote incessantly simple religious tracts and other literature, 
which she distributed far and near. 

But in all she was very humble, speaking of herself 
thus: “God is sometimes pleased to work by the most 
unworthy instruments. I suppose to take away every 
shadow of doubt that it is His own doing. It always 
gives me the idea of a great author writing with a very 
bad pen.” 


CCCL. Labour and Sorrow. Ecctes.i. 2. ‘Vanity 
of vanities, saith the Preacher.” 


GOETHE, the greatest of German poets, whose long life 
was one success, said: “ They have called me a child of 
fortune, nor have I any wish to complain of the course of 
my life. Yet it has been nothing but labour and sorrow; 
and I may truly say, that in seventy-five years I have not 
had four weeks of true comfort. It was the constant 
rolling of a stone that was always to be lifted anew.” 


CCCLI. An Eloquent Preacher. Ecctes. i, 2. 
“ Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities ; 
all is vanity.” 


ONE night, young Bossuet, who possessed in such an 
eminent degree the power of eloquent speech, had gone 
to the brilliant salon of Rambouillet. There were 
gathered in that famous drawing-room some of the most 
illustrious of the French nobility, ladies and gentlenien 
representing the wit, the learning, and the cleverness of 
Paris. In the course of the evening, the Marquis de Fen- 
quieres referred to this young man as one about to enter 
upon an ecclesiastical career, and who, from what he had 
heard, seemed destined to be a great preacher. Suddenly 
some one suggested that he might interest the company 
by preaching asermon, It would be a new diversion, and 
all the more delightful if the sermon were preached im- 
promptu. Texts were written shaken up in a hag, and 
P 


210 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


one of the illustrious ladies was to draw one out, and ha 
it to the preacher. The room was arranged, the text w 
drawn, and one of the ladies handed it to the youthf 
abbé. He was to have a quarter of an hour in which 
think over the subject, but as the slip was handed 
him he waived that privilege. How strangely the wor 
struck on the assembly as the grave young preach 
read, “Vanity of vanities! all is vanity!” At first som 
weie inclined to laugh, but ere long the feelings of 
assembly were swayed in another direction. The fervou 
the boldness, the brilliance of that extemporaneous utter 
ance astonished all ears and affected all hearts. Th 
sermon was long, and, as will be guessed from the occasio 
there is no report of it; but at its close the Duc d’Enghi 
pressed forward to grasp the preacher’s hand, and to i 
quire who he was, and whence he came. He came fro 
Dijon, and, unknown till that night, Bossuet forthwith too 
his place as “a bright particular star” in the religio 
firmament of France. 


CCCLII. Worldly Honour. Ecctes.i. 2. “ Vanii 
of vanities, saith the Preacher.” 


ONE cannot read the posthumous memoirs of Chateau 
briand, without being struck with the illusive nature 
worldly honours and~ pleasures. Contemporary applause 
was not wanting to cheer the craving spirit of this schola 
and statesman. The author of the ‘Genius of Christianity ’ 
and the ambassador of France at the Court of Londo 
could not complain that honour was denied him. He say. 
“I know not in history a reputation that would tempt me; 
and were it necessary to stoop to pick up from my feet an 
for my own advantage the greatest glory the world coul 
offer, 1 would not give myself the trouble.” 


CCCLIII. The Courtier and the Christian. 
Eccies. i.14 ‘Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” 


“T HAVE recently read Solomon with a kind of sympa 
thetic feeling. I have been as wicked and as vain, thoug 
not as wise, as he (is that so?); but I feel the truth of hi 
reflection, ‘All is vanity and vexation of spirit.’” So sai 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 211 


at the last, the most brilliant wit, the most accomplished 
gentleman, the most cultivated speaker and the most 
classic scholar of the English nobility in the eighteenth 
century—Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield. 

“By the grace of God I am what I am; nothing in 
myself, all in Christ.” So said, at the last, a genial old 
man, whose bones rest in Westminster Abbey, whose 
services humanity will never forget, who could walk from 
Gore House to the Parliament Houses, repeating to him- 
self the ninety-first psalm, and then by a persuasive 
eloquence, chastened by pure taste and enriched by classic 
allusion, hold the members of the House of Commons 
entranced while he depicted the horrors of the slave trade— 
William Wilberforce. 


CCCLIV. A Hasty Temper. Ecctes. vii. 9. “Be not 
hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom 


of fools.” 


LA FONTAINE, chaplain of the Prussian Army, once 
preached a very earnest and eloquent sermon on the sin 
and folly of yielding to a hasty temper. The next day he 
was accosted by a major of the regiment with the words: 

“Well, sir! I think you made use of the prerogatives of 
your office to give me some very sharp hits yesterday.” 

“TT certainly thought of you while I was preparing the . 
sermon,” was the answer; “but I had no intention of being 
personal or sharp.” 

“ Well, it is of no use,” said the major; “I have a hasty 
temper, and I cannot help it, and I cannot control it ; it is 
impossible.” 

And, still adhering to this opinion, after some further 
conversation he went his way. 

The next Sabbath, La Fontaine preached upon self- 
deception, and the vain excuses which men are wont to 
make, 

“Why,” said he, “a man will declare that it is im- 
possible to control his temper, when he very well knows 
that were the provocation to happen in the presence of 
his sovereign, he not only could, but would, control him- 
self entirely. And yet he dares to say that the continual 


212 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords impose 
upon him neither restraint nor fear!” 


CCCLV. Howto Die Manfully. Ecctss. viii. 12. 
“ Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be 
‘prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them 
that fear God, which fear before Him.” 


DR. JOHN GODMAN was an eminent anatomist and natu- 
ralist, who, dying at the early age of thirty-one, had 
already made himself distinguished through the country. 

For the greater part of his life he was avowedly an 
infidel of the French school, rejecting the Bible, and blind 
to the wonderful proofs, furnished by his profession, of 
the existence, power, and wisdom of God. But while 
lecturing, only three years before his death, to his medical 
class, he was called to the sick-bed, and, as it proved, 
the dying-bed of one of his students who was a Christian. 
Visiting this young man repeatedly, and witnessing his 
joyous anticipations of heaven, and his triumph over death, 
he saw what, as a sceptic, he was unable to comprehend. 
His philosophy could not explain it. He turned to the 
Bible, and there the secret was unfolded. There he found 
that Christ was the Conqueror of death, and that to the 
believer in Him its sting is taken away. 

Now Dr. Godman turned to the study of the Scriptures, 
and soon found joy and peace in believing; so that, when 
he finished his course, commending his little family to the 
Father of the fatherless and the widow’s God and portion, 
with uplifted eyes and a beaming countenance he resigned 
his spirit to the Redeemer, and sweetly fell asleep in 
Jesus. 

Before this, however, in the last sickness of his friend 
Dr. Judson,—who, though a brother of the devoted mis- 
sionary, was an open infidel,—Dr. Godman addressed to 
him a letter, which was the means of his conversion. 
“ Philosophy,” he says in that letter still extant, “iS a fool, 
and pride, a madman. Many persons die with what is 
called manly firmness ; they put on as smooth a face as 
they can, to compose on the spectators, and die firmly. 
But this is all deception. The true state of their minds 
at the very time, in nine cases out of ten, is worse than the 


bi 
4 


4 , 


: 


of that term), but he rests lovingly and reverently on 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 214 


most horrible imaginings of hell itself. But the man who 
dies as a man ought to die, is the humble-minded believing 
Christian. He does not die manfully (in the world’s sense 


Jesus. " 
Dr. Judson also, pointed by this letter to the only 


Saviour, died in the faith ; and through the testimony of 


his death, one other at least was pointed to the cross of 


_ Christ, and led to rest all his hopes upon it. 


MCCCLVI. Entering the Vineyard at the 


eleventh Hour. Eccuss. ix. 4. ‘ For to him that is 
toined to all the living there is hope.” 


_AN old man of eighty-one had heard in his early youth 


the celebrated Mr. Flavel preach. Instead of pronouncing 


the blessing at the close, Mr. Flavel had said, “I cannot 
bless you! How can I bless those who do not love the 
Lord Jesus? If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, 
let him be accursed!” The solemn sentence came into 
the old man’s remembrance in America, and at the eleventh 


hour he entered the vineyard. 


~CCCLVII. Do it Well. Ecctes. ix. 10. “ Whatsoever 


— eS a 


eos 


thy hand findeth to do, do tt with thy might.” 


WuatT? Everything honest that you attempt to do at 


all! 

A noble saying is recorded of a member of our British 
House of Commons, who by his own industry and perse- 
verance had won his way to that high position. A proud . 


scion of the aristocracy one day taunted him with his 


humble origin, saying, “I remember when you blacked 
my father’s boots.” “ Well, sir,’ was the noble response, 


“aid I not do tt well?” 


CCCLVIII. Perseverance. Ecctes. ix. 10. “ What- 
soever thy hand jfindeth to do, do tt with thy might; for there 
is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisilom, in the 
grave, whither thou goest.” 


Cyrus FIELD, in giving his account of the Atlantic 


214 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 


telegraph, says, “It has been a long and hard strugele— 
nearly thirteen years of anxious watching and ceaseless — 
toil. Often has my heart been ready to sink. Many times, — 
when wandering in the forests of Newfoundland in the | 
pelting rain, or on the deck*of ships on dark, stormy — 
nights, alone, far from home, I have almost accused myself — 
of madness and folly to sacrifice the peace of my family, 
and all the hopes of life, for what might prove, after all, 

but a dream. I have seen my companions one after 
another fall by my side, and feared I, too, might not live — 
to see the end. And yet one hope has led me on; and I © 
have prayed that I might not taste of death till this work © 
was accomplished. That prayer is answered; and now, 
beyond all acknowledgments to men is the feeling of grati- — 
tude to Almighty God.” 


CCCLIX. Courage in Helping the Wrong Doer. 
Eccues. ix. 10. “ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do wt 
with thy might.” 


DAVID KING, then a student going to Edinburgh Univer- 
sity, had taken his passage from Montrose to Leith in a_ 
small coasting vessel. “He had gone down to the quay to | 
embark, but the appearance of the passengers, and the 
filth and bad smells everywhere so disgusted him, that he — 
was hesitating whether he should sail after all, when a man — 
of respectable appearance accosted him, and pointing to 
a repulsive-looking character who was getting on board — 
at that moment, said; ‘That is a criminal flying from © 
justice ; and if, as I believe, you are studying for the 
ministry, you may have an opportunity of doing some good 
during the voyage.’ The man indicated seemed a thorough 
scoundrel, who could be rough and scornful if interfered 
with; and the idea of being in the same dirty cabin with 
him, perhaps for days, was so utterly repugnant to the 
nervous and sensitive lad, that he left the vessel and went 
home. When he told his parents the circumstances, his 
father, after a little consideration, said: ‘ Well, I will not 
urge you; but in passing through life you will have need 
of moral courage, and it might be for your future good 
to show some nerve now.’ These words sent him back 
to the vessel, and he went on board with a failing heart. 


a 
OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 2i¢ 


Scarcely were they out at sea when the man began to 
swear violently, took whisky out of his box, and, having 
drunk plentifully himself, handed it about to the sailors. 
The passengers became alarmed, the captain was appealed 
to, and under his authority the baggage of the offender 
was searched, all the spirits taken away, and severe 
measures threatened, if he caused further trouble. By this 
means the disturbance was ended, and the fears of the 
passengers calmed. But though all was quiet, the young 
student could find no repose; and urged by his conscience, 
which upbraided him with a neglect of duty, he rose at 
dead of night and sought the wretched runaway. On the 
deck of the little vessel he found him, and there, out at sea 
in darkness and solitude, the man was in a changed mood, 
and he received his visitor with a degree of courtesy. 
This was an opportunity not to be lost, and King began 
a serious conversation with him. After some earnest talk, 
he asked if any one had ever expostulated with him in 
such a manner before. ‘No,’ he answered ; ‘but I am not 
so ignorant as you might think. I have read a good many 
tracts, and most of them tell of sudden conversions, so that 
I have had an idea I might be converted suddenly some 
day myself” ‘ And what if this be the day?’ said the 
youth. ‘“Now is the accepted time, now is the day of 
salvation.” If nobody has spoken with you in this manner 
before, perhaps nobody may again.’ During the remainder 
of the passage the man was quiet, thoughtful, obliging, and 
at parting he testified deep gratitude to young King for his 
remonstrances, and expressed the hope of being thenceforth 
a changed character.” 


CCCLX. The Worm at the Root. Ecctes, ix 18, 
“* One sinner destroyeth much good.” 


A GENTLEMAN had two beautiful young mountain ash trees 
in his garden, which he tended very carefully from season 
to season. As might have been expected, the twin trees 
repaid his labour in their rapid growth and beauty of form. 
After a while, from some mysterious cause, one of the trees 
stopped growing. The other continued to spread out its 
branches and leaves, and seemed to wax taller and hand- 
somer every day; but this one resisted all the combined 


i 


216 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


influences of the season, rich dressings, and carefnl atten- 
dance. In vain the proprietor loosened the soil around its 
roots, again and again. In vain the sweet rains watered it, 
and the kind sun shone. At last the owner determined to 
make a thorough examination of its roots, and throwing up 
the earth, he carefully scraped them with his knife and 
washed them with water, whereupon, just at the bottom of 
the trunk, he discovered three or four little holes, and after 
some skilful probing, brought to light the mischievous 
worker in the shape of a borer-worm. This removed, the 
gentleman hoped the best for his tree. But it mever grew 
any more. He was obliged to cut it down. 

“One sinner destroyeth much good,” and he is tenfold 
the more destructive if he can conceal his depravity until 
he has done all the harm he wishes. So we sometimes see 
the choicest advantages of education and religion lavished 
upon a boy or young man without any effect. He grows 
morally worse instead of better. Watch closely for a 
while, and it is but too likely you'll find a wicked associate 
in the secret of it. Thank God if that borer-worm has not 
sapped his virtue beyond recovery. 


CCCLXI. Savedby a Newspaper Scrap. Ecctes. 
xi. 1. “ Cast thy bread upon the waters : for thou shalt find it 
after many days.” 


Mr. SPURGEON tells the following interesting fact: “Our 
son Tom, in a letter written to his mother from Auckland, 
New Zealand, enclosed a portion torn off an old Australian 
paper, concerning which he sends the following interesting 
particulars :— 

“« This scrap of newspaper has been given me by a town 
missionary here, who regards it as a very precious relic. 
It came to him from a man who died in the hospital, and 
bequeathed it to his visitor as a great treasure. Itisa 
portion of the Melbourne Argus, and of father’s sermon 
(“ Loving Advice for Anxious Seekers,” No. 735). 

“<The man found it on the floor of a hut in Australia, 
and was brought by its perusal to a knowledge of the truth 
as itis in Jesus. He kept it carefully while he lived (for it 
was discoloured and torn when he found it), and on his 
death-bed he gave it to the missionary as the only treasure 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 217 


he had to leave behind him. I thought dear father might 
like to have it in his book ; if not, send it back to me, that 
I may return it to its owner, who says he often feels en- 
couraged by glancing at it. It was his desire, however, 
that I should send it home, that the dear preacher might 
be encouraged.” 


CCCLXII. The Power of a Hymn. Ecctes. xi. 1. 
“ Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after 
many days.” 


PROBABLY few modern hymns have wandered more widely 
over the world, been pasted into more scrap-books, or 
comforted more invalids than the one of Phcebe Cary’s, 
beginning, “One sweetly solemn thought.” She composed 
it in a little third-story bedroom after coming from church 
one Sabbath morning in 1852. The following incident, 
taken from Mrs. Mary Clemmer’s life of the Cary sisters, 
shows how it influenced two tempted and erring men on 
the other side of the globe to lead better lives. The old 
man spoken of became an earnest working Christian, while 
“Harry ” renounced gambling and its attendant vices :— 
A gentleman in China, entrusted with packages for a 
young man from his friends in the United States, learned 
that he would probably be found in a certain gambling 
house. He went thither, but not seeing the young man, 
sat down and waited, in the hope that he might come in. 
The place was a bedlam of noises, men getting angry over 
their cards, and frequently coming to blows. Near him sat 
two men—one young, the other forty years of age. They 
were betting and drinking in a terrible way, the older one 
giving utterance continually to the foulest profanity. Two 
games had been finished, the young man losing each time. 
The third game, with fresh bottles of brandy, had just 
begun, and the young man sat lazily back in his chair 
while the oldest shuffled his cards. The man was a long 
time dealing the cards, and the young man, looking care- 
lessly about the room, began to hum a tune. He went on, 
till at length he began to sing the hymn of Phcebe Cary, 
above quoted. ‘The words,” says the writer of the story, 
.“repeated in such a vile place, at first made me shudder. 
A Sabbath-school hymn in a gambling den! But while 


218 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


the young man sang, the elder stopped dealing the cards, 
stared at the singer a moment, and, throwing the cards on 
the floor, exclaimed, ‘Harry, where did you learn that 
tune?’ 

“ «What tune?’ 

“Why, that one you’ve been singing.’ 

“The young man said he did not know what he had 
been singing, when the elder repeated the words, with tears 
in his eyes, and the young man said he had learned them 
in a Sunday-school in America. 

““Come, said the elder, getting up; ‘come, Harry; 
here’s what.I won from you; go and use it for some good 
purpose. As for me, as God sees me, I have played my 
last game, and drank my last bottle. I have misled you, 
Harry, and I am sorry. Give me your hand, my boy, and 
say that for old America’s sake, if for no other, you will 
quit this infernal business,’ ” 


CCCLXIII. Family Worship. Ecctes. xi. 6. “Jn the 
morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine 
hand.” 


THE following is one of the most interesting circumstances 
in the life of the late John Ryland, Baptist minister at 
Northampton :— 

Being on a journey, he was overtaken by a violent 
storm, and compelled to take shelter in the first inn he 
came to. The people of the house treated him with great 
kindness. When the hour of rest approached, the stranger 
appeared uneasy, and looked up every time the door 
opened, as if expecting something essential to his comfort. 
His host informed him that his chamber was prepared 
whenever he chose to retire. 

“But,” said he, “you have not had your family to- 
gether.” 

“T don’t know what you mean,” said the landlord. 

“To read and pray with them,” replied the guest. 

The landlord confessed that he never thought of doing 
such a thing. 

“ Then, sir,” said Mr. Ryland, “I must beg you to order 
my horse immediately: I had rather brave the storm than 


i 


> 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 219 


_ venture to sleep in a house where there is no prayer. Whe 


i 


can tell what may befal us before morning?” 

The landlord remonstrated with him, and said he had 
no objection to call his family together, but he should not 
know what to do when they came. Mr. Ryland then pro- 
posed to conduct family worship, to which all consented. 

When he rose from his knees, almost every individual 
present was bathed in tears, and the inquiry was awakened 
in every heart, “What must I do to be saved?” This 
day was indeed the beginning of days to that family, and 
they became, the means of diffusing a knowledge of the 
Gospel in a neighbourhood which had been before pro- 
verbially dark and destitute. 


-CCCLXIV. Resistance to Melancholy. Ecctes. 


xi. 7. “Truly the light ts sweet, and a pleasant thing it ts 
Jor the eyes to behold the sun.” 


DANTE condemns to the Stygian marsh those who had 
been sad under the blessed sunlight. “Sad were we in the 
sweet air that is gladdened by “the sun, bearing sluggish 
smoke in our hearts ; now lie we sadly here in the black 
ooze.” 


CCCLXV. Reverencing Conscience.  Ecctes. 
xi. 9. “ But know thou that for all these things God will 
bring thee into judgment.” 


AN ancient Persian fabulist tells the story of a king, who, 
having hanged his general because he had lost a battle, 
resolved in his rage to kill the widow and children of the 
unfortunate officer also. The whole country was in distress 
because of this cruel and unjust resolution, and numerous 
petitions were sentin. But all was in vain. The despot 
grew the more implacable the more his sense of humanity 
was appealed to. One day the king’s chief :ounsellor 
threw himself at the feet of his master, and asked for 
justice. He was accompanied by his daughter, a woman 
of unparalleled beauty. “Ruler of the world,” he said, 
“your physician, seeing that my daughter surpasses his 
daughter in beauty, as the sun surpasses the moon in glory, 
has in a fit of jealousy deformed my child by throwing a 
caustic fluid over her face.” Having said these words, he 


220 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


unveiled his daughter’s head. An ugly black spot was 
exposed, which monstrously disfigured the otherwise beau- 
tiful countenance of the poor girl. 

The king, roused to anger by the sight, immediately sent 
for his physician. 

“Why have you done this to the woman ?” he asked. 

The physician gave no reply. 

“By the sun and all his hosts,” cried the king, “with - 
thy head shalt thou pay for this offence!” ; 

He beckoned to the captain of the guard, who at once” 
stepped forward to execute the verdict. But the physician — 
produced a sponge from his bosom, and, dipping it into a 
basin of water, with one stroke thoroughly washed away — 
the black spot. | 

“What is this?” asked the king, in a voice of glad 
surprise. 

“Ruler of the world,” the counsellor answered, “you 
have sentenced my friend the physician to death because - 
he only disfigured a girl’s face by a stain which could be 
washed off easily, but what sentence will the eternal Judge — 
have to pass upon you, if you cast such a stain upon your 
conscience as you purpose—a stain which all the water of | 
the ocean cannot wash away?” 

The king, deeply struck by this question, abandoned his 
cruel intention, and sent the widow and children of the 
deceased general home, enriched with tokens of his princely 
munificence. 

This fable, in spirit like many other passages in the 
writings of the heathen authors, confirms the truth of the 
observation, that reverence for a pure conscience is so 
deeply implanted in our nature, that even sin, with all its 
destructive effect upon man’s moral sense, has not beer 
able altogether to destroy it. 


CCCLXVI. Conspicuous for exceeding Sin. 
Eccies. xi. 9. “ Lejoice, O young man, in thy youth ; and 
let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in 
the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: bui 
know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into 
Judgment.” 


AsouT a century ago, there flourished in the city of 


C. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 221 


Glasgow a club of young men, which, from the extreme 
profligacy of its members, and the licentiousness of their 
orgies, was commonly called the Hell Club. Besides their 
other meetings, it was their custom to hold one great 
annual gathering, at which each tried to surpass the other 
in extravagance of riot ; and on these occasions one young 
man—who, gifted with brilliant talents and a handsome 
person, had at one time raised hopes which he had sub- 
sequently destroyed—was ever conspicuous for his exceed- 
ing sin. 

On retiring to rest after one of these annual festivals, he 
had the following dream :—He fancied that he was mounted 
upon a favourite black horse, and was riding homeward in 


_ the dusk, when a stranger, whom the gloom prevented him 


from seeing distinctly, seized his horse’s rein, saying, “ You 
must go with me.” 

“ And who are you?” exclaimed the young man with an 
oath, as he struggled to free himself. 

“That you will see presently,” returned the other, in a 
tone which thrilled such an unaccountable terror through 
even his reckless breast that, plunging his spurs into his 
horse, he attempted to fly, but in vain; however fast the 
animal flew, the stranger was still at his side, till at length, 
in his desperate efforts to escape, the rider was thrown, 
but instead of being dashed to the ground, he found himself 


» falling—falling—falling still, as if sinking into the bowels 


of the earth. 

“Where am I? Where are you taking me to?” he 
gasped out. 

“To hell,” replied the stranger, while interminable echoes 
repeated the fearful sound, “ To hell! to hell! to hell!” 

On coming to a standstill, he found himself at the 


‘ entrance of a splendid building. Instead, however, of the 


_ expected cries and groans and lamentations, nothing was 


‘ 
i 


heard but sounds of music and rejoicing. On entering, he 
soon perceived that he was amongst old acquaintances, 
whom he knew to be dead, and all of them he observed 
were following the pursuits which had most engrossed them 


_ on earth. Approaching one of these—a lady whom he had 
_ known as an inveterate gambler—he asked her to cease 


. 


a 


awhile from play, and to introduce him to the pleasures of 
a place which seemed so very unlike what he expected. 


222 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


But, with a cry of agony, she answered that there was no 
rest in hell; that they must for ever toil on in those very — 
pleasures and pursuits to which they had abandoned them- 
selves while on earth. In the midst of the terror which 
this inspired, his conductor returned, and on his earnest ~ 
entreaty restored him again to earth, leaving him, however, 
with the words, “ Remember! in a year and a day we meet 
again!”. 

At this crisis of his dream the sleeper awoke, feverish 
and ill; and, either from the effects of the dream, or from 
his previous excess, he was for several days seriously 
unwell. During this period he had time for grave re- 
flection, which ended in a resolution to abandon the club 
and his licentious companions altogether. 

After getting well, however, his companions, to whom he 
told the reason of his leaving them, soon contrived to make 
him ashamed of his good resolutions. He resumed his 
former course of life, and when the next annual meeting 
came round, he was, as usual, the most reckless of all the 
guests, 

On rising to make the customary speech, the president 
observed, “ This being leap-year, it is a year and a day since 
our last anniversary.” The words struck on the young 
man’s ear like a knell; but ashamed to expose himself to 
the jeers of his companions, he sat out the night, drowning 
fearful thoughts in wine and revelry. Then, in the gloom 
of a winter’s morning, he mounted his horse to ride home. 

Some hours afterwards the horse was found quietly 
grazing by the roadside, whilst a few yards off lay the 
corpse of his master. 


CCCLXVII. A_ Soldier’s Bibles” Ecctes aie 
“ Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer 
thee in the days of thy youth; and walk in the ways of thy 
heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for 
all these things God will bring thee into judgntent.” 


IT was customary in Cromwell's time for his soldiers to 
carry each a Bible in his pocket ; among others, a profligate 
young man, who was ordered out to attack some fortress. 
During the engagement a bullet had perforated his Bible, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 223 


and gone so far as to rest opposite the above text. These 
words, so appropriate to his case, powerfully affected his 
mind, and proved, by the blessing of God, the means of 
his conversion. He used to observe, that the Bible had 
been the happy means of saving both his soul and his 
body. 


CCCLXVIII. The Dayof Affliction. LEcctes. xii. 3. 
“In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and 
the strong men shall bow themselves.” 


IT is told of the saintly Joseph Alleine, that in his last 
illness he suddenly lost the use of all his limbs. Louking 
at his dead hands, he said, “ The Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord.” 
Some of his old friends having gathered round him, he said 
to them, “I have lived a sweet life by the promises, and 
I hope, through grace, can die by a promise. It is the 
promises of God, which are everlasting, that will stand by 
us Nothing but God in them will stead us in a day of 
affliction.” 


CCCLXIX. TheGrave. Ecctes. xii. 5. ‘“ Man goeth to 
his long home.” 


A WELSH pastor reaching his house after following his 
wife to the grave, said, “I have seen my grave to-day, but 
having seen Calvary long ago, I am not afraid of it.” 


CCCLXX. Nearly Home. Ecctes. xii. 5. “ D/an 
goeth to his long home.” 


“ ALMOST well, and xearly at home,” said the dying Baxter, 
when asked how he was by a friend. A martyr, when ap- 
proaching the stake, being questioned as to how he felt, 
answered, “ Never better ; for now I know that I am almost 
at home.” Then looking over the meadows between him 
and the place where he was to be immediately burnt, he 
said, “Only two more stiles to get over, and I am at my 
Father’s house.” “Dying,” said the Rev. S. Medley, “is 
sweet work, sweet work ; home! home!” Another on his 
death-bed said, “I am going home as fast as 1 can, and J 
bless God that J have a good home to go to,” 


224 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCLXXI. Retribution. Eccres. xii. 14. “ For God 
shall bring every work into judsment with every secret thing, 
whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” 


THE doctrine of vetrzbution is held by the Moslems in its 
most rigid form—more rigid, indeed, than in the Christian 
system ; for there is no atonement for sin. The judgment 
is inexorable; it is absolute and eternal. Before their 
eyes ever stands the Day of Judgment—the Dies Ire— 
when all men shall appear before God to receive their 
doom. 

But in that last day, when unbelievers shall be destroyed, 
the followers of the Prophet shall be saved. They can go 
to the tribunal of their Maker without trembling. One 
day riding outside the walls of Constantinople, we ap- 
proached a cemetery just as a funeral procession drew 
near, bearing the form of the dead. We stopped to witness 
the scene. The mourners gathered around the place where 
the body was laid, and then the ulema approached the 
grave, and began an address to the dead, telling her (it was 
a woman) not to be afraid when the angel came to call her 
to judgment, but to appear before the bar of the Almighty, 
and answer without fear, for that no follower of the Prophet 
should perish. 


CCCLAXII. A Malarial Atmosphere. Sone or 
Sot. i. 6. “ Mine own vineyard have I not kept.” 


MALARIAS are dangerous because they do not address 
themselves to any sense. We can put up lightning-rods 
to ward off thunder-bolts, but no man can put up rods 
that will protect him from a poisonous atmosphere. The 
sweetest and most beauteous days in New Orleans are 
those in which death strikes most terribly in times of 
pestilence. It cannot be detected by sight or by touch, 
and that is what makes it so dreadful. Now we are walk- 
ing in a malarial atmosphere continually—not one that 
attacks the body, but one that infects the soul. There are 
in the atmosphere of the world silent corrupting forces of 
which men are quite unconscious—pride, vanity, the love 
of money, greed, rivalries, and various other noxious ele- 
ments, and nothing but the inward spiritual vigilance will 
make man a match for these things. 


bts 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 228 


CCCLXXIII. Beware of the Ivy Green. Sone oF 
Son, ii. 15. “ Zake us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the 
vines.” 


IN the gardens of Hampton Court you will see many trees 
entirely vanquished and well nigh strangled by huge coils 
of ivy, which are wound about them like the snakes around 
the unhappy Laocéon; there is no untwisting the folds, 
they are too giantlike, and fast fixed, and every hour the 
rootlets of the climber are sucking the life out of the un- 
happy tree. Yet there was a day when the ivy was a tiny 
aspirant, only asking a little aid in climbing; had it been 
denied then the tree had never become its victim, but by 
degrees the humble weakling grew in strength and arro- 
gance, and at last it assumed the mastery, and the tall tree 
became the prey of the creeping, insinuating destroyer. 
The moral is too obvious. Sorrowfully do we remember 
many noble characters which have been ruined little and 
little by insinuating habits. Drink has been the ivy in 
many cases. Reader, see to it, lest some slowly advancing 
sin Overpower you: men who are murdered by slow poison- 
ing die just as surely as those who take arsenic. 


CCCLXXIV. Early and Late with God. Sonc or 
Sou. iii. 2. “J will seek him whom my soul loveth.” 


ALLEINE once wrote to a dear friend, “Though I am 
apt to be unsettled and quickly set off the hinges, yet, 
methinks, I am like a bird out of the nest, I am never 
quiet till I am in my old way of communion with God; 
like the needle in the compass, that is restless till it be 
turned towards the pole. I can say, through grace, with 
the Church, ‘With my soul have I desired thee in the 
night, and with my spirit within me have I sought thee 
early. My heart is early and late with God; ’tis the 
business and delight of my life to seek him.” 


CCCLXXV. The Legend of St. Marguerite. 
Sone oF So. iv. 16. “Blow upon my garden, that the 
spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his 
garden, and eat his pleasant frutts.” 

THE peasantry of the Litoral tell a singular legend ts 

the first founder of the Abbey. They say that when St, 

Q 


226 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. | 


Honorat arrived on the island shore he was accompanied 
by his sister, St Marguerite, who had a number of nuns as 
her companions. The mind of her brother, however, was not 
satisfied at seeing the island thus occupied by the female 
portion of the community ; and yet he did not know what 
todo. The two islands at that distant period formed but 
one, However, he thought much upon it, and at last he 
proposed to his sister that she and her companions should 
bet: ke themselves to the farthest shore, near where the 
fortress of St. Marguerite now stands, and that he and 
his monks would retain the abbey. Still he did not feel 
happy about it; and at last, after a restless night, during 
which loud peals of thunder reverberated among the 
mountains, and lightning flashes played along the snow- 
girt peaks of the Alps, and the tall pines were torn up by 
the roots, and the fierce waves moaned around the abbey 
shore, when St. Honorat went forth at dawn, he saw to 
his amazement that a deep, broad channel now intervened 
between the islands—the island having been rent in twain. 

For a time St. Honorat was content. He used to pay 
a visit occasionally to his sister; and as he dearly loved 
strawberries, he chiefly then, when this fruit was in season, 
went to his sister’s isle, where, in the sunny shelter of this, 
the warmest spot of the Litoral, the fruit used to grow 
abundantly. At last his over-scrupulous mind began to 
question whether it was even right for him to visit the 
island at all. Many a restless night the saint passed, his 
mind oscillating between affection for his sister and the 
overstrained dictates of a morbid mind. 

When St. Marguerite, who had no such manner of 
scruples, perceived that her brother came not as often 
as before she reasoned with him, and at last he agreed 
still to continue his visits as long as the strawberries 
should bear fruit, but for the rest of the year he deter- 
mined never to visit St. Marguerite. And now his sister 
dispatched messengers to all the countries round, and 
charged them to bring back the earliest and the latest 
flowering strawberry plants that they could find. In fact, 
she managed it so well that one quarter of the island 
became an immense strawberry bed. . . . 

Many an anxious hour was spent by St. Marguerite on 
her own island, as she superintended the work of straw- 


| 
| 
| 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 227 


berry planting in the sunniest spots of the myrtle-shaded 
shore. St. Honorat had now been a long time without 
paying her a visit. And as she paced along the margin 
of the blue waters, and gazed towards the white crests of 
the maritime Alps that towered far inland, and marked 
the grey gnarled olive trees, that like a woodland sea 
extended beneath the nearer heights of Pezou, Grand 
Pine, and the crest on which Mougins lifts his walls, many 
a time she grieved that her brother should have listened 
to the too rigid suggestions of an ascetic mind, when she 
had rejoiced in listening to the holy counsels and loving 
admonitions which flowed from his lips. 

The winter passed away—the spring came on—the 
mistral came blowing fiercely from his caverns in the 
Esterelles ; and at last a messenger announced to Honorat 
that the season for strawberries had arrived. Gladly he 
passed over to see Marguerite, and to pick the fruit. The 
next day he came again; a week passed, and still he 
came; a month was over, and still more strawberries. 
Three months passed, and lo! daily a fresh supply of rich 
fruit was witnessed. Half a year passed, and yet the 
strawberries came on without cessation, and at last 
December saw some coming freshly in; and when 
Honorat witnessed spring again bringing its ripe fruit, 
he was constrained to tell Marguerite that such a won- 
drous plenty of strawberries was a plain manifestation 
that he was wrong in coming to the decision of only 
visiting her rarely, and that henceforth he would come 
to see her, without let or hindrance, from day to day. 

We may preserve fellowship with our Lord Jesus by 
cultivating those sweet graces which he loves. If we 
would bring forth the flowers of holiness all the year 
round, we might see His face every day, Are we as 
earnest to use means to detain him, as Marguerite to win 
her brother’s company? It is to be feared not. Let us 
henceforth be more anxious to obtain daily, hourly fellow- 
ship with our Lord. 


CCCLXXVI. Seeing no Beauty in Christ. Sone 
oF Sot. v. 9. “ What ts thy beloved more than another 
beloved ?” 

CORREGGIO has a picture of St. Catherine of Sienna’s 


228 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


mystical marriage. This medieval saint had a vision, in 
which she saw the Saviour approach and place on her 
hand a ring, in which blazed a diamond of unearthly 


purity and beauty, with which He espoused her to Him- © 


self. The jewel ever burned with a splendid radiance to 
her eye, though invisible to all others. 


CCCLXXVII. Light. Sone or Sou vi. 10, “Fair as 


the moon, clear as the sun.’ 


LIGHT has always been a favourite symbol of seats of 
learning. “ Dominus illuminatio Mea” is blazoned on the 
arms of Oxford. Cambridge writes, “Hunc lucem et 
pocula sacra.” In the Song of Solomon, the lover names 
the beloved “ Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.” 


CCCLXXVIII. An Irish Bishop. Isai.25. “J will 
purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.” 


“Yet Thou my shield and glory art, 
Th’ uplifter of mine head. 
I cry’d, and, from His holy hill, 
The Lord me answer made. 


“T laid me down and slept, I wak’d; 
For God sustained me. 
I will not fear though thousands ten 
Set round against me be.” 


THIS was the text from which Bishop Bedell preached to 
his fellow-prisoners in the time of the Irish rebellion in 
1642, when he and the Protestants of the district were 
shut up in hold, and in daager of death at any moment. 
He was one of the best bishops whe ever lived in Ireland, 
and had his example been more general the Reformation 
would have made much greater progress in the country. 
He learned the Irish language, had the Bible translated 
into it, was assiduous in Christian work, and was filled 
with the spirit of meekness and self-sacrifice. So much 
did he commend himself that, when he died in the midst 
of these troubles, the Irish did him uncommon honour 
at his burial, fired a volley at his interment, and cried 
Requiescat in pace ultimus Anglorum. He lived from 
1570 to 1642. He had a deep feeling of sin, and as the 
word Bede/ in Hebrew signifies ti, he took for his motte 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 220 


Isa. i. 25, “I will purely purge thy dross and take away 
all thy (bedel) tin.” 


CCCLXXIX. The Last Hour. Isa ii 11. “ The lofty 
looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men 
shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in 
that day.” 


A MINISTER named Mr. Winstanley was the means of 
comforting and edifying the great Dr. Johnson on his 
death-bed. Ina letter to a friend, Hannah More, alluding 
to this, says: “I cannot conclude without remarking what 
honour God has hereby put upon the doctrine of faith in a 
crucified Saviour. The man whose intellectual powers had 
awed all around him, was in his turn made to tremble 
when the period arrived at which all knowledge appears 
useless, and vanishes away, except the knowledge of the 
true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Effec- 
tually to attain this knowledge, this giant in literature 
must become a little child. The man looked up to asa 
prodigy of wisdom must become a fool that he might be 
wise.” 

What a comment is this upon that word: “The loftiness 
of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men 
shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in 
that day”! 


CCCLXXX. Living in the Lives of Others. Isa, 
vi. 8. ‘‘ Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then 
said I, Here am I; send me.” 


BEING sick with the pleurisy, John Woolman was brought 
so near to the gates of death that he forgot his own name. 
“Being then desirous to know who I was,” he writes, “I 
saw a mass of matter, of a dull, gloomy colour, between the 
south and the east, and was informed that this mass was 
human beings in as great misery as they could be and live; 
and that I was mixed in with them, and henceforth might 
not consider myself as a distinct and separate being. In 
that state I heard a pure and melodious voice, more soft 
and harmonicus than any voice I had heard with my ears 
before, and I believed that it was the voice of an angel 


230 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


who spoke to the other angels. The words were, Joka 
Woolman is dead. Yet, knowing that I was alive in the 
body, I greatly wondered what that heavenly voice could 
mean.” 

He tells us then, with the simplicity and power of 
Bunyan, how the mystery was opened to him; how that 
John Woolman was to live only henceforth in the lives of 
these others—most wretched ones. 

The vision lifted his whole life. It was thereafter a per- 
petual unconscious self-sacrifice. very action in it, it is 
true, shows the effect of his lack of education and of the 
ignorance that surrounded him. The water of life flowed 
through a narrow pipe. But it was a pure rill. 


CCCLXXXI. The Conscience. Isa. viii. 20. “ Zo 
the law and to the testimony. 


THE late Dr. Guthrie thus speaks in one of his sermons :— 
“ According to an Eastern tale, a great magician presented 
his prince with aring. The gift was of inestimable value, 
not for the diamonds and rubies and pearls that gemmed 
it, but for a rare and mystic property in the metal. It 
sat easily enough in ordinary circumstances ; but so soon 
as its wearer formed a bad thought or wish, designed or 
committed a bad action, the ring became a monitor, 
Suddenly contracting, it pressed painfully on his finger, 
warning him of sin. Such a ring is not the peculiar pro- 
perty of kings—all, the poorest of us, those that wear none 
other, possess and wear it—for the ring of the fable is just 
that conscience, which is the voice of God within us; which 
is His law written, not on Sinai’s granite tables, but on the 
fleshy tablets of the heart ; and which, enthroned in every 
bosom, commends us when we do right, and condemns us 


when we do wrong. But conscience, as an expression of 


the law or will and mind of God, is not now to be de- 
pended on. True to its office in Eden, it was shattered 
and overturned by the Fall; and now lies, as I have seen 
a sun-dial in the neglected garden of an old, desolate, 
ruined castle, thrown from its pedestal, prostrate on the 
ground, and covered by tall, rank weeds. 

So far as doctrines and duties are concerned, not con- 
science, but the Book of Revelation, is our one only sure 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 231 


and safe directory. “Search the Scriptures,” says our 
Lord, “for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they 
are they which testify of Me.” “To the law and to the 
testimony,” says another, “if they speak not according to 
these, there is no truth in them.” 


CCCLXXXII. Is God here? Isa. xi.6. “Anda littl 
child shall lead them.” 


A YOUNG man had been extremely profane, and thought 
little of the matter. After his marriage to a high-minded, 
lovely wife, the habit appeared to him in a different light, 
and he made spasmodic efforts to conquer it. But not 


~ until some years had passed did he become victor, when 


the glowing evil was set before him, by a little incident, in 
its real and shocking sinfulness. 

One Sunday morning, standing before the mirror shav- 
ing, the razor slipped, inflicting a slight wound. True to 
his fixed habit, he ejaculated the single word “God!” and 
was not a little amazed and chagrined to see reflected in 
the mirror the pretty picture of his little three-year-old 
daughter, as laying her dolly hastily down she sprang from 
her seat on the floor, exclaiming as she looked eagerly and 
expectantly about the room, “Is Dod here?” 

Pale and ashamed, and at a loss for a better answer, he 
simply said “ Why?” 

“’Cause I thought He was when I heard you speak to 
Him.” 

Then noticing the sober look on his face and the tears 
of shame in his eyes as he gazed down into the innocent, 
rad.ant face, she patted him lovingly on the hand, exclaim- 
ing assuringly, “Call Him again, papa, and I dess He'll 
surely come.” 

Oh, how every sj llable of the child’s trusting words cut 
to his heart! The still, small voice was heard at last. 
Catching the wondering child up in his arms, he knelt 
down, and for the first time in his life implored of God for- 
giveness for past offences and guidance for all his future 
life, thanking Him in fervent spirit that he had not “surely 
come” before in answer to some of his awful blasphemies 
Surely “a little child shall lead them.” 


232 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCLXXKXIII. Exalting God. Isa.xxv.1. “O Lord, 
Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee.” 


“Dr. BELLAMY made God big,” said an old negro to Dr, 
Backus, his successor. 

He is no true Christian who does not exalt Christ. 
A minister, whose congregation had long deplored the 
cold and dry style of his preaching, found one Sunday 
morning, on entering the pulpit, a slip of paper on the 
cushion with the words in John xii. 21 written on it: “ Szr, 
we would see Jesus.” His conscience supplied the applica- 
tion of the text, and after much thought and self-examina- 
tion he resolved, with God’s help, to preach Christ more 
clearly ; and next Sunday he took for his text John xx. 20: 
“ Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.” 


CCCLXXXIV. The Divine Fatherland. Isa. xxv. 8. 
“ He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God 
will wipe away tears from off all faces.” 


AN American minister thus speaks in one of his sermons: — 


“When the regiments of the British army are on foreign 
stations the bands are forbidden to play ‘Sweet Home,’ 
lest the beautiful tune, with its touching associations, 


should make the men saddened and disheartened. But no — 
such effect is produced in the Christian soul by singing 


to him of heaven. On the contrary, it gives him joy, and 
‘contentment, and strength, and consolation. For this pur- 
pose I have spoken of it now to you. Is it a comfort? 
That will depend on whether or not you are a child of 
God. Hark! amid the darkness the clock strikes out, 
with booming sound, the long midnight hour, and as it is 
heard by the watchman on his weary beat, he rejoices that 
he is so much nearer the time of his release at the day 
dawn. But as it falls on the ears of the condemned 
criminal in his cheerless cell, it sends a shiver through his 
frame, for he is an hour nearer his execution on the morn. 
How is it with you and the ringing out of the old year, in 
this regard? Does it fill you with gladness or with dread ? 
Oh, if with dread, let me urge you at once to break away 
from sin, and enter into the family of God, so that your 
terror may be turned into joy. They tell that in the armies 


| OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 232 
ee ee 
of the first Napoleon, when the ‘Ranz des vaches’ was 
_ played by the regimental bands, some Swiss soldiers, under 
the influence of the old home tune, were sure to desert 
before the morning, Child of God, I have tried to move 
_ your heart by awaking within you the associations of your 
divine fatherland. I have sung to you the Christian home- 
‘song; and if you have enlisted into any army of sin, or 
shame, or cruelty, or wrong, may the effect upon you be, 
to cause you to desert at once and hasten back to your 
Father’s embrace.” 


~CCCLXXXV. Our Last Hour. Isa. xxvi. 3. “ Zhou 
wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” 


In a lecture on “The Trinity: a Practical Truth,” Joseph 
Cook speaks thus of the late Charles Kingsley :—“ In 1875, 
Charles Kingsley, having bidden adieu to Westminster 

_Abbey and Windsor Castle, lay dying; and, with the 

breath of eternity on his cheeks, the central thought of 
this modern man was that ‘only in faith and love to the 
Incarnate God our Saviour can the cleverest, as well as 
the simplest, find the peace of God which passeth ail 
understanding.’ ‘In this faith,’ says his wife, ‘he had 
lived ; and as he had lived, so he died—humble, confident, 
unbewildered.’ In the night he was heard murmuring: 
‘No more fighting; no more fighting.” Then followed 

_ intense, earnest prayers, which were his habit when alone. 
His warfare was accomplished ; he had fought the good 
fight ; and on one of his last nights on earth his daughter 
heard him exclaim: ‘How beautiful God is!’ The last 
morning, at five o'clock, just after his eldest daughter and 
his physician, who had sat up all night, had left him, and 
he thought himself alone, he was heard, in a clear vaice, 
repeating the words of the Burial Service: ‘Thou knowest, 
O Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not Thy merciful 
ears to our prayer; but spare us, O Lord most holy, O 
God most mighty, O holy, merciful Saviour, Thou most 
worthy Judge Eternal, suffer us not, at our last hour, from 
any pains of death, to fall from Thee.’ He turned on his 
side after this, and never spoke again,” 


234 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCLXXXVI. I will Remember Thee. Isa 
xxvi. 8. “ Zhe desire of our soul is to Thy name, and to the 
remembrance of Thee.” 


Dr. Jessup, the Syrian missionary, says that when his 
father, long a Vice-President of the American Board of 
Missions, had been twice paralyzed, his memory gone, and 
even his own house no longer recognised, he was at home 
when he got into his church, or remembered the Missionary 
Board, and wrote a letter to its representatives, full of the 
spirit of missions. He could conduct family prayers as 
well as ever, and was perfectly sound in mind and memory 
as to the Redeemer’s kingdom. It was like the disinte- 
grated quartz falling away from the pure gold. 


CCCLXXXVII. Strong Drink. Isa. xxviii. 7. “ But 
they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink 
are out of the way.” 


A TREE in South America, called the Judas Tree, has 
beautiful scarlet blossoms, but it has a deadly opiate. The — 
insects are charmed with it. But under and all around 
this tree there are millions of dead carcases lying. 


CCCLXXXVIII. Erring through Strong Drink. 
Isa. xxviil. 7. “ Zhe priest and the prophet have erred through 
strong drink,” 


MR. J. W. KIRTON, author of “Buy your own Cherries,” 
etc., tells a painful story of a clergyman of the Church of 
England—a man of such power that he filled every seat 
and aisle with a congregation, and wherever he preached 
cleared out the chapels and churches for miles round. 
Souls were converted, and a blessed influence rested on 
the town. By-and-by a whisper got abroad that he was 
fond of drink, and ultimately it proved to be too true. 
He was seen staggering in the streets ; the bishop instituted 
inquiries, and the case turned out so bad that the clergy- 
man’s gown was taken from him, and he was deprived of 
his living. All restraint seemed then removed. He wan- 
dered about the town, sold his library, and spent the money 
in drink amongst the worst characters in the town where 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 235 
he had preached the gospel for years. His plate followed, 
then his furniture, and ultimately he marched to the work- 
house and asked for admission. He was received, -and 
week after week he went with the other paupers into the 
very church where he used to preach. His friends took 
“compassion upon him, took him out of the workhouse, put 
him into a cottage, and started him as a schoolmaster ; 
but he eventually “broke out” again, spent all he had in 
drink, had another attack of delirium tremens, and was 
taken, a hopeless maniac, to the county lunatic asylum. 


SCCLXXXIX. God’s Searching. Isa. xxviii. ro. 
“‘ For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line 
upon line, line upon line ; here a little, and there a little.” 


PERPORA, the great Italian music master, kept one of his 
pupils learning the same lesson for three years. The pupil 
began to murmur, but the master was firm. Four, five, 
six years passed, and yet he was still at the same, until at 
last, when he began to fear he might, after all, be just at 
the beginning, the great teacher set him free with the 
words, “Go, my son, for thou hast nothing more to learn,” 
and he found himself the first singer of Italy. So God 
keeps teaching us the same lesson over and over again— 
our utter nothingness, our complete helplessness, and our 
perfect sinfulness. 


CCCXC. Jargon without Knowledge. Isa. xxix. 
13. “ This people draw near Me with their mouth, and 
with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart 
far from Me.” 


Mr. SPURGEON says: “I heard two persons on the Wen- 
gern Alp talking by the hour together of the names of 
ferns; not a word about their characteristics, uses, or habits, 
but a medley of crack-jaw titles, and nothing more. They 
evidently felt that they were ventilating their botany, and 
kept each other in countenance by alternate volleys of non- 
sense. They were about as sensible as those doctrinalists 
who for ever talk over the technicalities of religion, but 
know nothing by experience of its spirit and power. Are 
we not all too apt to amuse ourselves after the same 
fashion? He who knows mere Linnzan names, but has 


236 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


never seen a flower, is as reliable in botany, as he is in 
theology who can descant upon supra-lapsatianism, but 
has never known the love of Christ in his heart. 


True religion’s more than doctrine, 
Something must be known and felt.” 


CCCXCI. Sanctify My Name. Isa xxix. 23. “ They 
shall sanctify My Name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, 
and shall fear the God of Israel.” 


Mr. BAXTER says: “Some holy Nonconformists I have 
known that would rarely mention God, but with their hats 
put off, or bowing down their heads, and it hath often 
affected me more than a sermon.” 


CCCXCII. The Fear of Hell peoples Heaven. 
Isa. xxx. 33. “ For Tophet ts ordained of old.” 


THERE is a legend that the devil once put on a monk’s 
hood, and went into the pulpit and preached hell and its 
terrors. As he knew his subject so well, he sent all his 
congregation into transports of terror, ready to say they 
believed anything, or to confess or promise anything, so 
that only they might escape such horror and despair. 
And when he returned from his mission, his friends bitterly 
reproached him, and said, “ What have you done? Don't 
you know that men say, ‘The fear of hell peoples heaven’? 
You have ruined and undone your own kingdom.” But 
he replied, “ Never fear: I know what I am doing. The 
heaven which the fear of hell peoples is one of my own 
devising (for its roots are in selfishness), and the more men 
seek that, the better for me! Since thus shall they never 
know that love of God, which is the one thing that utterly 
defeats and thwarts me.” 


CCCXCIII. The Covert from the Tempest. Isa, 
xxxii. 2. ‘And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the 
wind, and a covert from the tempest.” 


You remember, perhaps, the incident—on the St. Bernard 
mountain—of the freezing traveller who was just settling 
down into the snow-drifts, despairing and half dead. The 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 237 


whirling snow-flurries were fast weaving the white shroud 
around his dying form. Just as he is about sinking into 
the numb insensibility, he hears the distant cry of another 
traveller who, like himself, is perishing in the storm. He 
rouses up. He makes a sturdy effort to reach his com- 
panion in suffering—finds him—chafes him—lifts him on 
his feet, and supports his trembling steps onward towards 
the welcome light of the Hospice that now glimmers 
through the driving snow. The effort warms his own 
_ freezing frame into life again, and in trying to save another, 
he saves himself. Join hands with some friend who is yet 
out of Christ, and together struggle on towards the blessed 
“covert from the tempest.” 


-CCCXCIV. Beyond the River. Isa. xxxiii 17. 
“ Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shalt 


behold the land that is very far off.” 

_ Our Father is leading us home: and the more rough and 
rugged the road near its close, the more we relish the 
greensward beyond the grave. Could we look upwards 
with a steadier and more ardent eye, we should scarce feel 
the fluctuations of this changeable scene. When a man 
feels dizzy, in riding through a torrent, by looking down 
on the stream, the best way to restore his head to calmness 
is to fix his eye on the stationary objects on the other side 
of the river. 


CCCXCV. Begin at the Beginning. Isa. xxxiii. 
22. “For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord ts our Lawgiver, 
the Lord ts our King; He will save us.” 


“Dr DUNCAN, of the New College, Edinburgh, in conver- 
Sation once with a lady, addressed these remarkable words 
te her :—“It’s a grand thing to begin at the beginning,— 
to begin with the Lord as our Maker, and to learn who 
and what He is, Jehovah, I AM; and then to learn of Him 
‘as the Lawgiver; and then to meet Him as a Judge, and 
to be reconciled to His holy law,—to hear Him pronounce 
the curse that we deserve, and to say Amen to it; and then 
to lie at His feet, confessing that hell is our due, and, lying 
‘there, to take at His own hand, Christ, instead of hell— 


238 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Christ free, instead of hell deserved. That's just salvatio 
and no way but that will do for you or me. Try to get i 
fresh on your conscience every day, that hell is your dese 
and that you take Christ instead.” 


CCCXCVI. Loyalty. Isa. xxxiii. 22. “ For the a 
ts our Judge, the ee ts our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King ; 
He will save us.” 


THREE centuries ago the Spaniards were besieging the 
little town of St. Quentin, on the frontiers of France. Its” 
ramparts were in ruins, fever and famine were decimating 
its defenders, treason was gliding among its terrified popu- 
lation. One day the Spaniards shot over the walls a 
shower of arrows, to which were attached little slips of 
parchment, promising the inhabitants that if they would 
surrender, their lives and property should be spared. 
Now, the governor of the town was the great leader of 
the Huguenots, Gaspard de Coligni. As his sole answer 
he took a piece of parchment, tied it to a javelin, wrote on 
it the two words Regem habemus— We have a king”— 
and hurled it back into the camp of the enemy. There 
was his sole answer to all their threats and all their seduc- 
tions. Now that was true loyalty—loyalty in imminent 
peril, loyalty ready to sacrifice all. But who was that 
king for whom, amidst sword and flame, amid fever and 
famine, Coligni was defending those breached and battered 
walls? It was the weak and miserable Henry II. of 
France, whose son, Charles IX., was afterwards guilty of 
the murder of Coligni and the infamies of St. Bartholomew. 

Have you a king? Is Christ your King? Ah, if He 
be, He is not a feeble, corrupt, false, treacherous man like 
Coligni’s master, but a King who loves you, who died for 
you, “who pleads with you even now on the right hand of 
the Majesty on High. Are you loyal to Him as Coligni 
was to the wretched Henry II.? Are you loyal at all— 
much more, would you be loyal to Christ, even unto death ?- 
If so, what will you do for Him? That is the test. 


a 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 239 


CCCXCVII. Story of a Jerusalem Child. Isa. xl 11 
“ He shall gather the lambs with His arm.” 
_MiIss FLETCHER tells the story of the death of a dear little 
child called Naglie, who died in Jerusalem not long before 
her own death: “I heard the touching account of her 
death from her mother, a young Christian, who had learned 
to love Jesus in Miss Arnott’s School at Jaffa. Naglie was 
only two years and a half old when she died, but she was 
a strange child. She and her brother loved each other like 
two doves. Often she said, ‘I do not want to stay here; 
I want to go to my dear Jesus. On Sunday she went to 
church, but did not seem well. She came home and lay in 
her little bed, with eyes fixed, but they were looking at 
Jesus. Once or twice she said, ‘I want to lie in my cold 
bed,’ meaning the grave. She asked her father to sing to 
her. Then she said, ‘It is Jesus, father, my dear Jesus, 
who has come to take me.’ She looked up; she saw what 
we saw not, and smiling, said, “ There, He is at the foot of 
my bed ; He calls me to come. Then all was over. She 
was but six hours ill. Naglie ever loved the pictures best 
at school which showed the dear Jesus. One day when 
her mother put flowers in her hair, she said, ‘ Mother, Jesus 
had thorns on His head, and not flowers,’ ” 


CCCXCVIII. ‘*The Lambs in His Arms.” Isa. 
xl 11. “ He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry 
them in His bosom.” 


IN a Chinese Christian family at Amoy, a little boy, the 
youngest of three children, on asking his father to allow 
him to be baptized, was told that he was too young; that 
he might fall back if he made a profession when he was 
only a little boy. To this he made the touching refly, 
“Jesus has promised to carry the lambs in His arms. I 
am only a little boy ; it will be easier for Jesus to carry 
me.” This logic of the heart was too much for the father. 
He took him with him, and the dear child was ere long 
baptized. The whole family, of which this child is the 
youngest member—the father, mother, and three sons—are 
all members of the Mission Church at Amoy. 


240 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCXCIX. God’s Infinity. Isa. xl 26. “Ziffupy 
eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, t 
bringeth out their host by numbers: He calleth them all 
names by the greatness of His might.” 


JEAN PAUL RICHTER says, “God called up from dream 
a man into the vestibule of heaven, saying, ‘Come tho 
hither, and see the glory of My house.’ And to th 
servants that stood around His throne He said, ‘Take him 
and undress him from his robes of flesh; cleanse hi 
vision, and put a new breath into his nostrils ; arm him 
with wings for flight, only touch not with any change his 
human heart—the: heart. that weeps and trembles. It 
was done, and with a mighty angel for his guide, the man 
stood ready for his infinite voyage: and from the terraces 
of heaven, without sound or farewell, they wheeled ies 
into endless space. Then came eternities of twilight that 
revealed but were not revealed. To the right hand and to 
the left, toward mighty constellations, depth was swallowe 
up in height insurmountable, height was swallowed up in 
depth unfathomable. Suddenly, as thus they rode =nal 


infinite to infinite ; suddenly, as they tilted over abyssmal 
worlds, a mighty cry arose—that systems more hres 
worlds more billowy, other heights and other depths were 
nearing at hand. Then the man sighed, stopped, shud- 
dered and wept. His overladen heart uttered itself in 
tears; and he said, ‘Angel, I will go no farther. For the 
spirit of man aches under this infinity. Insufferable is the 
glory of God’s house. Let me lie down in the grave, that I 
may find rest from the persecutions of the infinite; for end 
I see there is none. And from all the listening stars ~—— 
shone around issued one choral chant, ‘Even so it is 
Angel, thou knowest that it is: end there 1s none that ever 
yet we heard of” The Angel demanded: ‘And is this the 
sorrow that kills you?’ But his voice answered that he 
might answer himself. Then the Angel threw up his 
glorious hands to the heaven of heavens, saying, ‘End is_ 
there none to the universe of God. Lo! also there is no 
beginning.’” 

Mere infinity frightens the spirit: it is only from the 
teachings of revelation and Christ as the manifested wis- 


7 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 241 


— Od 
dom, power, and love of God, that the infinity of the Divina 
: Being becomes a friend and not a fear to man. 


-CCCCII. A Bruised Reed. Isa. xii. 3. “A bruised 
reed shall he not break.” 


IN one of his sermons, Mr. William Birch says, “I remem- 
ber some years ago, while riding over one of the deserts of 
northern Africa, meeting with a company of Arab travellers, 
and dining with them in the primitive way of sitting on 
the sand. After dinner one of the men brought out his 
pipes to play. These pipes were two reeds, something 
like the tin whistles on which boys sometimes play, but 
made of cane. The man put the end of the reeds in his 
_mouth and played Arab tunes with them, the music thus 
produced being soft and tremulous. When he had finished 
playing, he placed the reeds on the ground, and a horse - 
happening to tread on one, it was injured. I at once 
thought of the passage of Scripture, referring to Christ, 
which says—‘A bruised reed shall He not break,’ and I 
wondered for a moment what this Arab would do. He 
took up the reed, and though it was bruised he did not 
throw it away, but sat down on the ground, and for proba- 
bly half an hour tried gently and patiently to straighten 
and repair it, so that he might be able to use it again for 
his cheering tunes, as it was the only instrument of music 
in that little caravan.” 


CCCCIII. The Praying Light-Keeper. Isa. xlii. ro. 
“ Sing unto the Lord a new song, and His praise from the ena 
of the earth, ye that go down to the sea.” 


WE were fog-bound in Penobscot Bay, and made harbour 
at Eagle Island. Just as the sun was setting we went on 
shore, and, walking toward the lighthouse, were attracted 
by the voice of some one in prayer. It was an impressive 
scene. Before us stretched out the broad Atlantic; the 
gathering shades of evening deepened the solitude. In the 
light above us was the keeper, where he had just lighted 
his lamp. His face was turned toward the sea; his long 
hair and beard were whitened with the snows of many 
winters. His arms were outstretched and his voice alone 
broke the silence, as he besought the Almighty, in the 
& 


242 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


hollow of whose hands the seas are held, to protect th 
sailor, and to forgive his sins. 

“Them prayers will go higher than the light,” said our 
skipper, and all of us felt that we had come into the near 
presence of God, on that lonely island far at sea. 

Who can measure the Divine Providence that shines 
out from the lighthouse on Eagle Island, because of that 
praying lighthouse-keeper ? 


CCCCIV. A Death Song. Isa. xliii. 2. ‘“ When thou 
passest through the waters I will be with thee.” 


A COASTING vessel once struck on the rocks in a gale in 
the British Channel. The captain and crew took to the 
boats and were lost. They might have been saved had 
they remained on board, for a huge wave carried the vessel | 
up among the rocks, where the ebbing tide left her high 
and dry. In the captain’s cabin a hymn-book was found 
lying on the table ; it was open at a particular page, and 
the pencil still lay in it which had marked the favourite 
lines of the sailor when just entering the jaws of death. 
While the hurricane was howling outside, the captain had © 
drawn his pencil beside these glorious words of cheer:— 


“ Jesu, lover of my soul, 
Let me to Thy bosom fly, 
While the billows zear me roll, 
While the tempest still is high: 
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
Till the storm of life is past! 
Safe into the haven guide, 
O receive my soul at last!” 


Blessed death-song ! 


CCCCV. To Die is Gain. Isa. xliii. 2 “When thou 
passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” 


THE testimony of John Rogers, of Bridport, was one of the 
many beautiful death-beds of which we have heard. The 
night before he died he said, “I am going home.” Putting 
out his arm, and beckoning and smiling, he said, “Coming, 
coming.” Early next morning he asked for his favourite 
testament, and, placing it close to his heart, he said, “I am 
dying, resting on Jesus: nothing remains but the death- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 243 


struggle. Christ is my all in all” The passage was 
| repeated to him, “Yea, though I walk through the valley 
of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art 
with me.” He said, “And He will be with me to the end.” 
Then he gently fell asleep. 


CCCCVI. Fear Not. Isa. xliii. 2 “ When thou passest 
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, 
they shall not overflow thee.” 


AMONG the few remains of Sir John Franklin that were 
found far up in the Polar regions, there was a leaf of the 
“Student’s Manual,” by Dr. John Todd, the only relic of a 
book. From the way in which the leaf was turned down, 
the following portion of a dialogue was prominent: “ Are 
you not afraid to die?” “No.” “No! Why does the 
uncertainty of another state give you no concern?” 
“Because God has said to me: ‘Fear not. When thou 
passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through 
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.”” This leaf is 
preserved in the Museum of Greenwich Hospital, among 
the relics of Sir John Franklin. 


CCCCVII. Sinning against Light. Isa. xliii. 8. 
“ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes.” 


CARLYLE quotes out of the Koran a story of the dwellers 
by the Dead Sea, to whom Moses was sent. They sniffed 
and sneered at Moses; saw no comeliness in Moses; and 
so he withdrew. But Nature and her rigorous veracities 
did not withdraw. When next we find the dwellers by the 
Dead Sea, they, according to the Koran, are all changed 
into apes. “By not using their souls, they lost them.” 
“ And now,” continues Carlyle, “their only employment is 
to sit there and look out into the smokiest, dreariest, most 
undecipherable sort of universe. Only once in seven days 
they do remember that they once had souls. Hast thou 
never, O traveller! fallen in with parties of this tribe? 
Methinks they have grown somewhat numerous in our 
day.” 

The old Greek proverb was that the avenging deities are 
shod with wool; but the wool grows on the eyelids that 


244 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


refuse the light. “Whom the gods would destroy, they 
first make mad;” but the insanity arises from judicial 
blindness. 

Jeremy Taylor says that whoever sins against light 
kisses the lips of a blazing cannon. 


CCCCVIII. Times of Blessing. Isa. xliv. 3. “ For 


f will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the 


ary ground.” 


DuRING Mr. Sherman’s ministry in Reading, his flock was — 


visited by remarkable “times of refreshing,” which can 
never be forgotten. He says himself: “One Whit-Sunday 
morning, I was preaching from Isa. xliv. 3-5, ‘For I will 
pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the 
dry ground,’ and as if to illustrate it, the Spirit of the 
Lord came like a flood over the parched souls of the con- 
gregation, and all became sensible that there was something 
more than human argument convincing the judgment. 
The congregation was melted to tears, and one poor back- 
slider, on whom my hopes had long rested, unable to 
restrain himself, when I cried out, ‘Who will “subscribe 
with his hand to the Lord” to-day?’ cried out, ‘I will.’ 
The congregation caught the infection, and hands seemed 
involuntarily stretched out, as if ready to sign their names. 
It pleased God to move eighty-one souls, most of them 
young, to devote themselves to His service that day.” 


CCCCIX. Sin Blotted Out. Isa. xliv. 22. “JZ have 
blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions.” 


AN illustration which effectively shows the “ blotting out” 
of sin, is that of Charlotte Elizabeth’s Happy Mute, “ who 
dreamed that he died and stood before the judgment-seat, 
and the books were opened.” And when he saw beneath 
his name a long, dark catalogue of sins, he was ready to 
sink with terror. But Jesus cast on him a gracious look, 
and saying with unspeakable tenderness, “John!” lifted 
the pierced hand from which oozed drops of blood, and 
passed it over the black record. John’s sins were all 
“blotted out,” and there was only now the mark of the 
blood. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 245 


CCCCX. Need of a Saviour. Isa. xlv. 21, 22. “A 
just God and a Saviour ; there is none beside Me. Look unto 
Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.” 


IN a letter to Mr. Aubrey De Vere, Sir W. R. Hamilton 
says: “ Without any appreciable or expressible change in 
my religious views, I feel that there has been for some time 
back a decided improvement in my religious habits, tastes, 
and feelings : the sum and substance of which seems to be, 
that I feel more than before my eed of a Saviour, of The 
Saviour.” 


CCCCXI. Not till they are Rooted. Isa. xlviii. 10. 
“ Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; L have chosen 
thee in the furnace of afjiiction.” 


I WENT into the kitchen the other day with a bit of black 
velvet in my hand and a whole pall of black in my heart. 

All the morning I had been brooding, brooding over my 
loneliness, shutting out all the light, and looking only at 
the darkness. A year before, I had lost my precious baby; 
and though God had blessed me in a thousand ways, had 
surrounded me with love and comfort, the withdrawal of 
this special joy had blighted everything. 

All the year I had tried with varying success to lift my- 
self to such a state of trust that I could joyfully think of 
my darling as far more tenderly cared for than he could be 
with me—far more safe than in this world of temptation. 
There had been many hours, many of them, when | attained 
at least calmness ; but on the morning on which I speak, 
the whole sky was black, with not even a star to call my 
look upward. 

I stood at the ironing-table, renewing my velvet, when 
one of the girls began taking in some sickly-looking plants 
_ that she was trying to cultivate in pots. 

“T take them in every day,” she said, “when the sun 
gets up.” 

“ An’ sure, isn’t the sun good for them?” said the other 
girl. 

“Not till they get rooted,” was the reply, in a tone of 
surprise at the ignorance displayed by the question. 

“Not till they get rooted,” said I over and over to my- 


246 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


self, as I went upstairs. That sentence answers all my 
questions. God is too good and wise to give us sunshine 
in teo great measure till we get rooted—He knows that we 
should soon wither and die. So He sets us where the light 
is shaded to our need ; He gives our root the moisture of 
tears, and when we grow strong through reaching after the 
Divine, little by little He gives us more sun. . 
' “Not till they get rooted.” 

Well, I knew that before my baby died I had given the 
world far too much of my heart. I had been swayed hither 
and thither by those who were not my rightful guides. I 
had been content with low standards and frivolous pursuits. 
I had been far from a healthy, genuine growth. Evidently 
the sun had withered, instead of strengthening me. I was 
not rooted. 

To be rooted is the first essential of a healthy growth. 
Till the root has firm hold of the soil, till it is able to 
choose and absorb that which it needs from all surround- 
ing elements, the life cannot increase—there can be neither 
flower nor fruit. The soul cannot safely bear much sun- 
shine till it is rooted in God. Till then it must have ~ 
shadow, or be wasted and sickly. Let me then lift up my ~ 
thought constantly to the Divine realm, the summer land ~ 
of the soul, for help and guidance. Let me make God my © 
own, and then all that He possesses will be mine also. Let 
me through obedience enter into love, so shall I find all 
that I have lost. 


CCCCXII. The Furnace of Affliction. Isa. xlviii_ 
10. ‘J have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.” 


THE late Professo: George Wilson thus quaintly expresses — 
the various effects of affliction in a letter to his friend, — 
Daniel Macmillan: “The furnace of affliction puffs away 
some men in black smoke, and hardens others into useless — 
slags, and melts a few into clear glass. May it refine us 
into gold seven times purified, ready to be fashioned into 
vessels for the Master’s use.” And like the effect of afflic- 
tion is that of the habitual prospect of death. In a letter 
to the same friend, in 1848, he says, “I have been reading 
lately, with great sadness, the Memorials of Charles Lamb, 
and the Life of Keats. There is something in the noble 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 247 


brotherly love of Charles to brighten, and hallow, and 
relieve the former ; but Keats’s death-bed is the blackness 
of midnight, unmitigated by one ray of light. God keep 
you and me from such a death-bed! We may have 
physical agonies as great to endure. It is the common 
lot. I feel that our heavenly Father can better choose for 
us than we can for ourselves, of what we should die; but I 
pray our blessed Lord and Master to be with us in our last 
fight with the last enemy, and te give us the victory. If 
He does, what shall pain be but like other bitter medicines, 
the preparative for the unbroken health of an endless life?” 


CCCCXIII. “Time Enough.” Isa. xlviii. 18. “O that 
thou hadst hearkened to My commandments.” 


A YOUNG man, about eighteen, was anxious about his 
soul. He had strong convictions of sin, and of the danger 
of his lost condition. The word of God had reached his 
conscience, and he was persuaded that he must repent and 
seek the Lord, or he could not be saved. The Spirit of 
God was striving with him, but he would not yield; there 
was “time enough,”—it was not a convenient season. He 
was taking a new situation where there were many ungodly 
men, and he dare not confess Christ, so he purposed to 
wait awhile, and say nothing about religion until the way 
was easier. From that time he fell back; he gave it all 
up; he became as careless and unconcerned as ever; he 
forsook the house of God, and went right back to the 
world. 

But the Lord was merciful to him, and did not leave 
him without fresh calls. About the age of five-and-thirty 
he had again many serious impressions. He began to 
{nquire and to pray, and seemed on the very threshold of 
the kingdom. He truly wished to become a Christian and 
follow Christ the rest of his life, but the old temptation 
came back in a new form. He had reached the prime of 
life, but he was again led to delay further. He was now 
taking a business for himself, and he was assured that it 
could not be carried on without Sunday trading; the 
customers would be supplied on that day, or go else- 
where. 

Unhappily he yielded to the snare. He made up his 


248 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


mind to turn to God, but not now. A few months or — 
years could not make much difference, he thought; so he 
again put off the matter. He could not decide yet—it was 
too great a sacrifice to give up all for Christ. Alas, again 
he quenched and grieved the Spirit, and became hardened 
in his unbelief and sin! Business prospered with him, and 
he was content to live without God. Many years passed 
by, and he thought nothing of the great eternity to which 
he was fast hastening. 

By-and-by old age crept on him, and his latter end was 
rapidly approaching. At the age of seventy-two he was 
brought low and compelled to look death in the face ; but 
now the hope of peace and salvation seemed very far off. 
There was nothing but a certain fearful looking for of 
judgment and fiery indignation. A faithful minister of 
Christ visited him from time to time, but the word of 
promise and pardon seemed to find no entrance. To the 
very last the servant of the Lord was by his side, hoping 
against hope, telling him that Christ was able to save to 
the uttermost, and reminding him of the dying thief, and 
urging him to accept mercy; but there was no response. 
There seemed a barrier in the way : darkness and despair 
shut out the view of the merciful and long-suffering 
Saviour. At last he raised himself in the bed, and three 
times raising up his hands he exclaimed, “I’m lost! I’m 
lost! I’m lost!” So saying, he fell back on his pillow and 
expired. Such an end tells its own tale. Such was the issue 
of all the man’s purposes and resolutions; such was the 
result of delay in deciding for Christ. 


‘ 
' 
: 
: 


CCCCXIV. The Infidel and the Missionary. 
Isa. xlviii. 22. “ There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the 
wicked.” 


A MISSIONARY party shipped for Suez in a vessel whose 
captain was a notorious infidel, blasphemer, and drunkard. 
“If you can convert that captain,” those who knew him 
said, “we will believe.” The captain himself rubbed his 
hands in glee at the prospect of putting down the mis- 
soniaries. All approaches to him were met by blasphemy 
and infidel argument. “ Had he read the Bible?” “ Yes, 
knew it through and through, and it was all bosh!” After 


Ba 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 249 


a fruitless interview of two hours, Mr. Studd remarked as 
a close to the conversation: “ Well, all I have to say is, I 
have a peace which the world cannot give.” The man 
seemed struck by the remark, grew serious, and said: “ We 
are all seeking that, but we never find it.” ‘“ You can have 
it by simple trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,” was the reply. 
The captain then opened his heart, and revealed its secret 
of unrest. After separating from the young missionary, 
he went down and shut himself in his cabin. The next 
that was seen of him was his writing a letter home, asking 


forgiveness for having left his family rudely and without a 


word. He gave his heart to Christ, and became completely 
changed, and all the crew marvelled greatly. 


CCCCXV. What shall we give to Jesus? Isa 
xlix. 16. “Ais arm brought salvation.” , 


A LITTLE girl named Mary Ann Day, a native of Ulceby, 
in Lincolnshire, fell from the Wagnua Charta steamer into 
New Holland harbour. A brave man named John Eller- 
thorpe, “sprang in after her and brought her ashore, though 
at a great risk of his own life. The noise of the paddle 
wheels, the screams of the child’s mother, and the con- 
fusion and shouts of the passengers, made it a very exciting 
scene, but it was soon over, and the little girl having got 
some dry clothes on, her mother brought her to John, and 
said to her, ‘ Now, what will you give this gentleman for 
saving your life?’ when she held out her little chin, and 
with a full heart said,‘A zss.” John Ellerthorpe, in telling 
the tale, said, ‘I felt myself well paid for the trouble, and 
had a greater sense of delight and higher satisfaction when 
that grateful child kissed me, than I did when my fellow- 
townsmen presented me with one hundred and thirty 
guineas.” 

Believing reader, you and I were originally passengers 
on board the ship /zzocence, and, falling overboard through 
sin, were in danger of being drowned in the deep of Divine 
wrath ; but at the moment when all refuge failed, and no 
eye pitied, and no arm was outstretched to save, “God 
laid help upon one that was mighty,” and the Lord of life 
and glory Himself became our deliverer, 


250 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


“With pitying eyes the Prince of peace 
Beheld our helpless grief ; 
He saw, and oh! amazing love, 
He sprang to our relief.” 


“Emptying Himself” of His former glory, and with the 
cry “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God,” He plunged 
into the dark and dreadful waters of death, determining to 
rescue the unworthy object of His wonderful compassion, 
not at the mere risk of losing His life, but in the certain 
knowledge that it must be sacrificed. Then was He heard 
to say, “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy 
waterspouts: all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over 
Me.” 

But in dying He overcame death. In sacrificing Him- 
self He saved us—and to the deep and infinite joy of His 
Father and ours, and amid the acclamations of angels, 
“ He drew us out of many (great) waters.” “ He delivered 
us because He delighted in us.” 


“Oh, for this love let rocks and hills 
Their lasting silence break, 
And all harmonious human tongues 
The Saviour’s praises speak.” 


But what shall we give to Him who “saved us” at such 
a cost ? 

The little girl gave her deliverer a kiss—doubtless, it was 
the best way in which she could express her thankfulness ; 
what shall we give “ Jesus who delivered us from the wrath 
to come?” Have we “no kiss” that He will accept and 
count precious—no kiss of gratitude ? 


CCCCXVI. The Liberty of the Captives of Sin. 
Isa. xlix. 24. ‘‘ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or 
the lawful captive delivered” 


JoHN ELIAS was one of Wales’ greatest preachers. On 
one occasion the text was Isaiah xlix. 24: “Shall the prey 
be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered ?” 

“ Satan,” exclaimed he in a very peculiar manner, “ what 
do you say, ‘ Shall the prey be taken from the mighty ?’” 
“No, never, never; I will increase the darkness of their 
minds, the hardness of their hearts, the lusts of their souls, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 251 


the strength of their chains; and my holds shall be made 
stronger. The captives shall zever be delivered. I utterly 
despise the puny efforts of ministers.” 

“ Gabriel, messenger of the Most High God,” exclaimed 
the preacher in a different tone, looking upwards, “‘ Shall 
the prey be taken from the mighty?’ what dost thou 
say?” “Ah! I apprehend not: I have been hovering 
these two days over this vast assembly hearing the word 
of God, expecting to see some chains broken, some prisoners 
liberated ; but now the opportunity is near over, and the 
multitudes are on the point of separating. Ah! there is 
no sign of one being converted, and I shall not have to 
convey the glad tidings of one sinner repenting of his sins 
to the heavenly world.” 

Then turning to the preachers he asked, “ What think 
you, ministers of the living God, ‘Shall the prey be taken 
from the mighty ?’” “*‘ Alas, who hath believed our report, 
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? ‘We 
have laboured in vain, and spent our strength for nought.’ 
The Lord seemeth to hide His face from us; His arm is 
not stretched out. Oh! we fear there is but little hope of 
the captives being liberated.” 

“Zion, ‘Shall the prey be taken from the mighty ?’ 
What do you say?” “‘Ah, the Lord hath forsaken me, 
and my Lord hath forgotten me.’ I am left alone, and 
am childless; so that my enemies say, ‘ This is Zion, whom 
no man seeketh after. Oh, I am afraid none shall be 
delivered.” 

“ Praying Christians, what do you think, ‘ Shall the prey 
be taken from the mighty?’ ‘Lord God, Thou knowest : 
high is Thy hand, and strong is Thy right hand.’ O that 
Thou wouldst put forth Thy strength and overcome! Let 
the sighing of the prisoners come before Thee: according 
to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that 
are appointed todie. Though I am nearly weary in crying, 
yet I have a slender hope that the year of jubilee is at 
hand.” 

Then looking up seriously, as if about to speak to the 
Almighty, he asked, “ And what is the mind of the Lord 
respecting these captives? ‘Thus saith the Lord, even 
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the 
prey of the terrible shall be delivered.” O delightful! 


252 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


there is now zo doubt or hesitation respecting the liberty 
of the captives: it is positively declared they shall be 
delivered, they shall be saved. Yes, ‘the ransomed of the 
Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and ever- 
lasting joy upon their heads,’” 


CCCCXVII. A Chain of Precious Books. Isa. 1. 4.7 
“ The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, thai 
1 should know how to speak a word in season to him that is 
weary.” 


YEARS ago an old Puritan doctor, Sibbes, wrote a book . 
called the “ Bruised Reed,” which fell just at the right time 
into the hands of Richard Baxter, and brought him under 
the influence of the enlightening power of the Spirit of God ; — 
and then Baxter's ministry was like the sun in his strength, — 
and he wrote a book called “The Call to the Unconverted,” ~ 
which continued to speak long after Baxter himself had 
ceased to speak with human tongue. That “Call to the © 
Unconverted” went preaching on until it got into the 
hands of Philip Doddridge (prepared by his pious mother’s © 
teaching from the Dutch tiles of a mantel-piece with very — 
quaint Scriptural stories), and it was the means of enlight- 
ening him to a broader knowledge, and a richer faith, and 
a deeper experience of the things of God. 

And then Doddridge wrote a book called “The Rise 
and Progress of Religion in the Soul,” which, just at a 
critical period in his history, fell into the hands of William 
Wilberforce, who wrote a book called “ Practical Chris- 
tianity,” which, far down in the sunny Isle of Wight, fired 
the heart of a clergyman, who has attained, perhaps, in 
connection with the Tract Society, the broadest and widest 
reputation of all—for who has not heard of Legh Rich- 
mond? He wrote the simple annal of a Methodist girl. 
and published it under the title of “The Dairyman’s 
Daughter ;” and I should like to know into how many 
languages that has been translated, and been made of God 
a power for the spread of truth. 

The same book on “ Practical Christianity” went right 
down into a secluded parish in Scotland, and it found there 
a young clergyman who was preaching a Gospel that he 
did not know, and it instructed him in the way of God 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 253 


‘more perfectly, and he came forth a champion valiant for 
the truth upon the earth until all Scotland rang with the 

_ eloquence of Thomas Chalmers. Look at it. Not a flaw 
in the chain. Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter, Philip 

' Doddridge, William Wilberforce, Legh Richmond, Thomas 
_ Chalmers. 


: CCCCXVIII. Blocking up the Broad Way. 
2 Isa. hi 7. “‘ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of 
‘ him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.” 
SY 


“ONE of the most eminent of Methodist lay preachers was 
William Dawson. His personal piety was deep and un- 
‘affected, and his gifts of address were marvellous. 

_ Set free from secular labour towards the close of his life, 
to give one-half of each year to the advocacy of the mission 
meanse, Dawson had from the first showed an extraordinary 
power of moving men’s sympathy for the cause of missions, 
and of unbuttoning their pockets. He would roll up the 
slip of paper on which a notice or a resolution had been 
‘written, and using it as a telescope, describe what he saw. 
And just before sitting down, he would once more apply 
his telescope to his eye, and say, “I see a good collection.” 
And a good collection there wouid be. 

Little did deputies sent from some place where he was 

‘less known, conceive the power of the man they found 
hedging and ditching with his own hands, and who accom- 
panied them as soon as he had time to change his working 
‘clothes for a suit of decent black. On one occasion he 
described the aim of missions to be, “to block up the 
‘broad way, to cover it with verdure, to prevent even the 
‘keen eye of the recording angel from seeing so much as 
‘the print of a human fect upon it.” 
Dawson died, after 2 lifetime of as constant labour as 
“probably any man ever lived, in the town cf Leeds, in 1841 ; 
and a great multitude icllowed his mortal remains to the 
/ grave. 


CCCCXIX. Newtgn and Jay. Isa. lit ro. “All the 
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” 


A FEW years since, Mr. Jay was invited to preach before 
the Baptist Missionary Society in London, with several 


254 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


of the founders of which he was well acquainted. The 
sermon was a fine illustration of piety and of fraternal love 
He beautifully sketched the origin of the missionary spirit 
and the difficulties it had to encounter. He stated that he 
himself, then a comparative youth, had some doubts as te 
whether the time was come for the evangelization of the 
earth, and at length he determined to call and conversé 
on the subject with the venerable John Newton. The 
aged apostolic clergyman received his younger brothe 
with ardent affection, and requested him to detail the 
peculiar difficulties which oppressed his mind. Mr. Jay 
did this at considerable length, especially insisting on the 
manifold obstacles which idolatry and human depravity, ir 
all their various forms, presented to the extension of the 
gospel. When he had ceased, the venerable clergyma 
slowly laid down his pipe, gathered up his form to an erec 
posture, and looking his junior brother full in the face, sai¢ 
in a most emphatic tone, “My brother, I have neve 
doubted the power of God to convert the heathen world 
since he converted me/” “Never from that period,” said 
the preacher, “ have I had a doubt on the subject. Facts 
too, have proved the fulfilment of Divine prophecies, an¢ 
have gone so far to accomplish the Divine oath.” 


CCCCXX. Three Links. Isa. lili, 1. “ Who hat 
believed our report?” 


WILLIAM CARTER in a sermon to the outcasts of London 
said: “ Hear what Jesus declares: ‘ Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Hint 
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come inta 
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.” Here 
my friends, there are three links in the blessed chain of truth 
—hearing, believing,and having. The devil always tries t¢ 
cut these links off, and give three links of his own forging 
viz. doing, praying, feeling.” 

This item was copied into a religious weekly newspapet 
in this country, and was there read by a gentleman, whe 
after three weeks of waiting for the feeling of a change i 
his heart, he had given up all hoje, and concluded that 
there was no salvation for him. God’s way of salvation at 
once seemed plain, and the gentleman was soon a happy 
Christian. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 255 


-CCCCXXI. Belief in the Atonement. Isa. liii. 6, 
“¢ The Lord hath laidon Him the iniquity of us all.” 


DorA GREENWELL beautifully says, “Belief in that one 
great doctrine of the Atonement is to me like the blue 
flower of the German legends; long sought and hidden, but 
when found, admitting into every guarded treasure, which, 
without the possession of it, would have been closed up.” 


CCCCXXII. Attempting Great Things for God. 
Isa. liv. 2, 3. “ Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them 
stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations: spare not, lengthen 
thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.” 


ON the 30th of May, 1792, William Carey, the future mis- 
sionary, was appointed to preach at an Association in 
Nottingham. His sermon on this occasion has become 
historical, The building in which it was preached is still 
in existence, though diverted to quite a different purpose. 
The text on which the discourse was founded was Isaiah 
liv. 2,3: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them 
stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, 
lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou 
shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and 
thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate 
cities to be inhabited.” The preacher observed that the 
Church is here addressed as a desolate widow, dwelling in 
a small tent by herself ; that the command to enlarge her 
tent implied that there should be an enlargement of her 
family ; that to account for so unexpected and marvellous 
a change, she was told, “ Thy Maker is thy Husband,” and 
thai at a future day He would be called “the God of the 
whole earth.” He then proceeded to establish and illus- 
trate the two great principles involved in the text, and that 
have since become “household words” throughout the 
Christian world in reference to the missionary enterprise— 
I. Expect great things from God; \1. Attempt great things 
for God. In this sermon the thought and fecling of years 
were concentrated. The effect which it produced was 
electrical. Dr. Ryland, who was present, said, “If all the 
people had lifted up their voices and wept, as the children 
of Israel did at Bochim, I should not have wondered at the 


256 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


effect: it would only have seemed proportionate to the 
cause; so clearly did he prove the criminality of our 
supineness in the cause of God.” 


CCCCXXIII. Comforted of God. Isa. liv. 5. “ Zhy 
Maker is thine Husband.” 


AN eminent physician, who, in visiting the sick, sought to 
administer to the soul as well as to the body, one day 
called upon a poor widow, whom, on a previous visit, he had 
found in great darkness of mind. She was now in a happy 
frame, and, on asking her what had been the means of her 
comfort, she said it had been these words in Isaiah liv. 5 
—“ Thy Maker is thine Husband ; the Lord of Hostsis His — 
Name.” On asking her what she had felt in these words 
to cheer her, her answer was: “I’ve been thinking that 
if that be true, I should be beginning to live up to His 
income.” 


CCCCXXIV. A Bitter Cup. Isaiivoaeee to 
afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted, behold, I wilt 
lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy Joundations with 
sapphires.” : 


IT, is delightful to sit down beside a child of God who has 
in his hand a bitter cup of trial. Jesus has turned the 
bitterness into such a blessing that he “tastes the love” of © 
Jesus in every drop. 

I love to hear old Richard Baxter exclaim, after a life of — 
constant suffering, “O my God! I thank Thee for a bodily 
discipline of eight-and-fifty years.” 

I love to sit down by Harlan Page and hear him say, © 
“A bed of pain is a precious place, when we have the 
presence of Christ. God does not send one unnecessary 


affliction. Lord! I thank Thee for suffering. I deserve it. 
I deserve death eternal. Let me not complain nor dictate. — 
I commit myself to Thee, O Saviour, and to Thy infinite 
love. I stop my mouth, and lie low beside Thee!” Se 
God built up that blood-built soul faster than disease was 
pulling down the frail tenement in which it dwelt. And 
through the rents heaven's glory shone in with rapturous g 
radiance | 


if 
(a 


4 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 257 
nena eae eae 


er. 
CCCCXXV. Children in Prison. Isa. liv. 13. 
| “ Thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” 


3 AN interesting circumstance occurred lately in Finland. 
Some children from seven to nine years of age were so 
_ brought uffder the sensible influence of the Spirit of God, 
convincing them of their sins, that, on their going to or 
_ from school, they retired into the woods, and there put up 
their prayers to the Lord, with many tears. By degrees 
their number increased. The parents of some of them 
found them thus engaged, and with rebukes and stripes 
_dispersed them; but the parents of others, who had 
noticed the increased sobriety and good behaviour of their 
children, encouraged them to meet together in their houses, 
and not to go out into the woods. The children did so; 
and some of these parents, observing their religious ten- 
derness, and hearing their solemn prayers to the Lord, the 
Redeemer, and Saviour of sinners, felt themselves strong 
_ convictions of sin. They joined their children in their 
devotions, and a great reform took place in that part of 
the country. This excited the angry feelings of the priest, 
who was a bad man and a drunkard. He went to the 
magistrate to enter his complaints against both children 
and parents. The prosecution issued in their all being 
sent to prison. 

They had seen some months in confinement, when the 
Prince Alexander Galitzin heard that chz/dren were in 
prison on account of religion. He thought it so strange 
an occurrence that he sent confidential persons to inquire 
into it They found so much religious sensibility and 
tendergess in the children, that they were greatly surprised, 
especially at the simplicity with which they related how 

_ they had been brought under trouble because of their sin- 
ful hearts, and how they had felt that they must pray tc 
_ the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone could forgive them and 
enable them to live in a state of acceptance before God, 
Being inquired of if their parents or others had not put 
them on doing this, they said that so far from that, 
they were afraid that their parents or any one else should 
_ know how it was with them, that they retired privately in 
the woods to pray and cry with tears unto the Lord. The 
parents also stated that the children had been the instru- 
s 


258 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 


ments of bringing them to a sense of their sinful lives, and 
to seek the Lord that He might give them a new heart. 
and pour forth His Spirit upon them. Moreover, it was 
found that the conduct of these people and children had 
been such during their imprisonment as to comport with 
their Christian profession. The prince ordered their re- 
lease, and had the priest and the magistrates severely re- 
primanded and removed from their offices. The emperor 
having heard of all this, and of the great sufferings to 
which these families were reduced in consequence of their 
long imprisonment, which took place just before harvest, 
ordered that all their losses should be liberally made up 
to them, making ample provision, also, for their present 
support, 


CCCCXXVI. Hearing, not Reading. Isa. lv. 3. 
“Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your soul 
shall live.” 


A POOR man being on his death-bed, asked that the fifty- 
fifth chapter of Isaiah should be read to him. Though weak, - 
and faint, and full of pain, yet when he heard the words, 
“Incline your ear, and come unto Me; hear, and your 
soul shall live,” he gathered up his strength to say, “ What 
a mercy, sir, that it is not ‘ Read, and your soul shall live ;’ 
for if it had been, I could not have been saved, for you 
know I am no scholar! But blessed be God, it is ‘ Hear, 
and your soul shall live ;’ I have heard, and believed, and 
trust I shall be saved.” 


CCCCXXVII. Trust the Promises. Iss 3 


“ The sure mercies of David.” 


LAST winter a man crossed the Mississippi on the ice, and, 
fearing it was too thin, began to crawl on his hands and 
knees in great terror; but when he gained the opposite 
shore, all worn out, another man drove past him gaily, 
sitting upon a sled loaded with pig-iron. That is just the 
way most Christians go up to the heavenly Canaan, trem- 
bling at every step lest the promises shall break under 
their feet, when really they are secure enough for us to 
hold our heads and sing with confidence as we march to 
the better land. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 259 


~CCCCXXVIII. Joy and Peace in Dying. Isa. ly. 
12. “For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.” 


| Lapy Lusn’s deathbed was characterized by the joy- 
fulness of a Christian about to enter the glorious presence 
of the Lord. Dr. Landels, in his memorial sermon, 
said: “Amidst all her bodily sufferings, her inward peace 
' mever failed. The Lord was with her all through, and 
never withdrew from her for a moment the light of His 
countenance. ‘The Lord is with you, dear, whispered 
the voice of affection. ‘Yes, He is never absent,’ was 
the calm, glad response. And again, ‘Is it peace, dear ?’ 
to which she replied, ‘Peace does not express it—it is 
joy. ” 

CCCCXXIX. The Close of Life. Isa. Iii. 15. 

“ Eternity.” 


ALBERT BARNES, in his sermon on “ Life at Threescore,” 
illustrates the magnitude of eternal things as he approaches 
the end of life, compared with those which ordinarily occupy 
the attention of mankind, by the following figure :— 

“The earth, as it moves in its orbit from year to year, 
maintains its distance of ninety-five millions of miles from 
the sun; and the sun, except when seen through a hazy 
atmosphere, at its rising or its setting, seems at all times 
to be of the same magnitude—to human view an object 
always small, as compared with our own world. But 
suppose the earth should leave its orbit, and make its way 
in a direct line towards the sun. How soon would the sun 
seem to enlarge its dimensions! How vast and bright 
would it become! How soon would it fill the whole field 
of vision, and all on the earth dwindle to nothing! Se 
human life now appears to me. In earlier years, eternity 
appeared distant and small in importance. But at the 
period of life which I have now reached, it seems to me as 
if the earth had left the orbit of its annual movement, and 
were making a rapid and direct flight to the sun. The 
objects of eternity, towards which I am moving, rapidly 
enlarge themselves. They have become overpoweringly 
bright and grand. They fill the whole field of vision, and 
the earth, with all which is the common object of human 
ambition and pursuit, is vanishing away!” 


260 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCCXXX. A Great God and a Little God. 
Isa. lvii. 15. “ For thus saith the high and lofiy One that in- 
habiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high 
and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
spirit.” 

COLLINS, the freethinker, met a plain country man going 
to church. He asked him where he was going. “To 
church, sir.” “What todothere?” “To worship God.” 
“ Pray, whether is your God, a great ora littleGod?” “He 
is both, sir.” “ Howcan Hebeboth?” “Heis so great, sir, 
that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him, and so 
little that He can dwellin my heart.” Collins declared that 
this simple answer from the country man had more effect 
upon his mind than all the volumes which learned doctors 
had written against him. 


CCCCXXXI. An Arctic Explorer and Sabbath 
Keeping. Isa. lviii. 13. “ Zf thou turn away thy foot 
Srom the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day ; and 
call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and 
shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine 
own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.” 


Dr. SCORESBY, of Arctic fame, was a devoted Christian, and 


: 


not ashamed of the gospel of Christ amid the pursuits and ~ 


honours of science. 

It was in the year 1820 that he introduced on board of 
his ship the regulation as to no fishing on the Sabbath, to 
the successful working of which he long after published an 
emphatic testimony. He always kept up the habit of 
reading prayers and sermons on board ship, and one of his 
own prayers, offered in name of the whole ship’s company, 
on setting out on a voyage, has been preserved in his 
biography, and is singularly rich, and humble, and full of 
unction. We may notice that, during his stay in Edin- 
burgh, on one occasion, he made the acquaintance of Sir 
Walter Scott, and, being invited to meet a party at his 
house on the Sabbath Day, wrote in reply—“ I fear I can- 
not have the honour of waiting upon you on Sunday at 
dinner, agreeably to the arrangement you were so kind and 
polite as to propose. For some years, indeed, I have 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 261 
declined visiting on that day of the week ; though I readily 
and honestly acknowledge that in this instance the priva- 
tion is greater than on any occasion that ever before 
occurred,” 


CCCCXXXII. Keeping the Sabbath Holy. Isa. 
lviii.13. “ Lf thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from 
doing thy pleasure on My holy day ; and call the Sabbath a de- 
light, the holy of the Lord, honourable ; and shalt honour Him, 
not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure.” 


Mr. POWELL was an eminent Welsh minister who was 
born in 1617. He wasa vain and thoughtless youth, and 
_aringleader among his associates in folly and wickedness, 
but the Spirit of God graciously arrested him in his sinful 
career. As he was, on one Lord’s Day, standing and look- 
ing at a number of people breaking the Sabbath by divers 
games, one of the Puritans passed by and addressed him: 
“Doth it become you, sir, that are a scholar, to break the 
Lord’s Day thus?” To which he replied, like the scoffers 
in Malachi: “ Wherein do I break it? You see me only 
stand by; I do not play at all’ “But you find your 
own pleasure herein by looking on, and this God forbids 
in His holy Word.” 

So he opened his Bible, and read those words in Isaiah 
Iviii. 13, particularly noting that expression, “ Not finding 
thine own pleasure on My holy day.” He resolved there 
and then never to transgress in that way again, and God 
enabled him to stand to his resolution. 


CCCCXXXIII. God’s Power to Save. Isa. lix. 1. 
“ Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that tt cannot save 
neither His ear heavy, that tt cannot hear.” 


Dr. KRAPF was a missionary to the Wanica people, and 
was often much cast down by their blindness and 1gnorance. 
On one occasion, being very despondent about their con- 
dition, he went out and looked up to the starry heavens, 
and he found all his misgivings scattered by that text 
flashing into mind: “ Who is gone into heaven, and is 
on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and 
powers being subject to Him.” He meditated much on 


262 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


these glorious words, and thought, “ Need I despair of these 
poor Wanicas? Can I doubt His power? for was not my 
own heart as hard and blind as theirs, and can He not 
convert them too?” 


CCCCXXXIV. Light in the World. Isa kx 1x. 


“ Arise, shine; for thy light is come,” 


THERE is a little church on a lonely hillside where they 
have neither gas nor lamps, and yet on darkest nights 
they hold Divine service. Each worshipper, coming a ~ 
great distance from village or moorland home, brings with 
him a taper and lights it from the one supplied and 
carried by the minister of the little church. The building 
is thronged, and the scene is said to be “ most brilliant!” — 
Let each one of our lives be but a little taper—lighted from 
the Life of Christ, and carrying His flame—and we shall 
help to fill this great temple of human need and human 
sin with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. 


CCCCXXXV. Christ’s Kingdom is Growing. 
Isa. Ix. 2. “ For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, 
and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon 
thee, and His glory shail be seen upon thee.” 


AT a Church Missionary meeting the Bishop of Moo- 
sonee, furnishing proofs of the growing civilization of the 
Indians, said :— 

“Tam here to speak of the conversion of men to God 
through the work of the missionaries, and I can tell you 
of men who evidence by their lives that they have been 
born again of the Holy Spirit of God. While speaking 
some time ago to an Indian, I said to him, ‘ My friend, I 
should be glad if you would give me a picture of the 
Indians as they were before they received Christianity.’ 
I took down the man’s words in reply from his own lips, 
and they were these :—‘ Before we were Christians we were 
very, very wicked ; we knew nothing save the devil and 
the devil’s works. We lied, we stealed, we conjured; we 
thought we could prophesy. The Indians robbed men of 
other tribes ; the Indians robbed each other. Their lives 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 263 


_ were very ; very wicked.’ They were indeed wicked. Let 
me mention a case in point :-— 

“ A few years before | went to the country there was a 
post belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, fifty miles 
distant from Moose. A gentleman lived there with his 
wife and children, and some servants, and he thought they 
were living in perfect security. The Indians came to the 
place regularly to trade, and he appeared never to have 
suspected that they would rise against him and take his 
wife. He had charge of a large store, where there were 
things that gladdened the Indian's heart; there was plenty 
of tea, plenty of sugar, plenty of guns, plenty of ammu- 
nition. The Indians determined that they would attack 
that place, and rob the store of all that it contained. And 
one day they rose against the master and his family, and 
his servants, and killed every one of them, with the 
exception of the youngest servant, who fied to Moose 
factory, which he reached with great difficulty, having 
been pursued for many miles on his way. The murderers 
were afterwards pursued and captured. One of them was 
asked, ‘ How could you dare to act in such a way towards 
people who had always shown you the greatest kindness?’ 
He said, ‘ We were instigated to it by our conjurers ; they 
told us to do it.’ The conjurers were asked how they 
dared to give such advice to the people, and they said, 
*“Owr Moneto’ (that is, spirit) ‘told us to doit. He told 
us to attack the store, and not respect the lives of those 
who had charge of it—the lives of the father, the mother, 
the children, or the servants.’ These Indians had no feel- 
ings of hostility towards the people at that post, but they 
paid attention to their sorcerers and conjurers, and they 
thought, perhaps, that they were doing their duty. How 
is it with the missionaries and their families now? They 
live in those regions in the greatest imaginable security. 
The most precious treasure which I have in this world is 
my wife and children, and I should not feel the slightest 
anxiety in entrusting them to the charge of these Indians, 
I should be sure they would be well and kindly treated, 
and that they would be protected day and night. That is, 
I think, saying a good deal,” 


264 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES 


CCCCXXXVI. Gone into the World of Light. 
Isa. lx. 19. “ Zhe Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting — 
light.” 


NEVER since the great minstrel of the border was borne © 
from Abbotsford to Dryburgh Abbey has the valley of 
the Tweed been so moved as when the sage of Allerly. 
Sir David Brewster, was carried to his tomb in the old © 
abbey of Nicirose, amidst sorrowing crowds of friends 
and neighbours, and representatives from the seats of — 
learning and science. There he rests till the resurrection 
morn, and, the stone that marks the spot where he lies 
bears the simple and appropriate words-——“ THE LORD IS 
MY LIGHT.” 


CCCCXXXVII. An Inscription of a Tombstone. 
Isa. lx. 20. “ Zhy sun shall no more go down: for the Lord 
shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning 
shall be ended.” 


OF all the inscriptions in the necropolis of Glasgow, none 
strikes a visitor so much as the texts of Scripture inscribed 
on the monument of Dr. Beattie, who died in his fortieth 
year. One gives the mortal side: “Thy sun shall go down 
while it is yet day;” the other turns the medal, and we 
read the inscription, full of immortality: “ Thy sun shall 
no more go down: for the Lord God shall be thine ever- 
lasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be 
ended.” 


ee rc eee 


CCCCXXXVIII. Captives. Isa ixi. 1. “ Zo proclaim 
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them 
that are bound.” 


A BAND of Algerian pirates had taken many prisoners, 
who were chained to the oars to row their masters. 
Suddenly ships of war were seen in the distance, and 
the captives knew there was hope. But their masters 
came on deck. “Pull for your lives,” cried they. The 
whip was laid on, and the poor captives were forced to 
pull, and thus, by their own efforts, to fly from their 
rescuers. So Satan is a hard taskmaster, and when 


ie 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 265 


Jesus comes to the soul, and it is about to yield, Satan 


_ places all sorts of snares for it. 


CCCCXXXIX. Dancing for Joy. Isa. lxi 10 “7 
will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyfut in 
my God.” 


A REMINISCENCE of the late Professor (Rabbi) Duncan 
is incidentally given by Dr. Bonar. “One day he said 
to me, and said it sorrowfully, in one of our many walks, 
*I was as nearly an atheist as I believe it possible for 
a man to be,—implying that, from his own experience, 
he was inclined to conclude that there never was such 


_a being as an out-and-out atheist. His dread of his own 


doubtings was seen strikingly in what he said to a friend, 
regarding the breaking of the light: ‘When first I saw 
there could be a GOD, I danced for joy’ It was when 
walking out alone that this light broke. It was on ‘the 
Brig o’ Dee’ that he ‘danced for joy.’” 


CCCCXL. Christ Covering the Sinner. Isa: lxi. 
to. “ He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.” 


_AN American citizen had been condemned in a Spanish 


court, and was to die; but the consul interposed, and 
declared that the Spanish authorities had no power to 
put him to death. Being determined to save him, he 
was wrapped round in the flags—the stars and stripes. 
“Now fire, if you dare,” he said. “If you do, you defy 
the great nation represented by these flags.” There stood 
the man, and before him the soldiers; and yet he was 
invulnerable, as though in a coat of mail. So is the sinner, 
wrapped round by the blood-red robe of Christ. 


CCCCXLI. God’s Constant and Personal 


Supervision of His People. Isa. lxiii. 13, 
“That led them as an horse in the wilderness, that they 
should not stumble.” 


THE following is an incident of travel in which light is 
thrown upon a beautiful expression of Isaiah, “ That ied 


266 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


them as an horse in the wilderness, that they should no 
stumble,” of which the commentators give many di 
tracting representations. Two English gentlemen wer 
conveying their horses across the wilderness to be use 
in Palestine. The journey lasted for more than six weeks, 
and during all that time these horses were only occasionally 
mounted ; they were led by hand almost every step of the 
way, being watched over with particular care by special 
attendants, that they might take no harm from the some 
what rude ordeal to which their owners thought it well 
to expose them. And when I saw those two horses led 
thus carefully through the rocky desert, and marked how 
carefully the guides picked out the easiest tracks for them, 
and paid continua! attention to their food, and to their 
health, and to the state of their hoofs, which were sorely 
tried by the hard and burning soil on which they trod, I 
could neither help recalling this passage in Isaiah, nor 
recognising in the picture an illustration of the prophet’s 
idea. 

Each master would take the bridle of his steed upon his 
arm, and. would walk beside him, encouraging him with 
kindly words. Especially when the track led over one of 
the frightful passes of the Sinaitic region, where a sort of 
staircase of slippery rock leads up or down on the edge 
of a yawning ravine, the master would be sure to give his 
personal aid in guiding his terrified favourite safely over so 
perilous a place. I can fancy I see the picturesque group 
at this moment; the skilful Arab groom and the affec- 
tionate English master busied in restraining the snorting, | 
rearing creature whose reluctance taxed all their patience ~ 
and gentle force. One time they would cover his eyes, 
that he might not see all the danger that lay in front of 
him ; at another time they would urge him forward with 
mingled caresses and blows; sometimes they would stoop 
down to plant his feet in the securest spots, and when 
safe ground was reached at length, they would lavish a 
thousand endearments upon him, as though he had verily 
done something worthy of reward and praise, instead of 
owing all his success to the wisdom and care of his anxious 
guides, 


) 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 267 


CCCCXLII. What must Heaven be? Isa. lxv. 17, 
“ For, behold, 1 create new heavens and a new earth.” 


HajiI HaAGoP was an Armenian convert to Christianity, 
and in the increasing infirmities of old age he longed to 
depart and be with Christ. Taking a book from beneath 
his cushion, he said to a missionary, “Next to my Bible, 
this is precious to my soul; I am now reading it through 
for the third time.” It was a worn copy ‘of Baxter's 
“Saints’ Rest” in Armenian. When told that the “Saint” 
wrote the book when sick and with heaven full in view, 
he was greatly interested, and said, “I shall meet him 
there, and will tell him how it has comforted me in my 
pilgrimage.” He then gave the visitor an account of what 
some one had told him of the wonders of American cities 
—of the broad, clean streets, the churches, the khans 
(hotels) like palaces, etc. He added, “It was wonderful, 
and as I listened, I thought after this manner: ‘What must 
heaven be?’ If he should tell all this to a poor Koord, 
who had never seen or heard of anything better than his 
hole in the ground, what idea would he get? Just none at 
all: you might as well describe the light to a blind man. 
And then I said to myself, ‘So little can 7 understand of 
heaven ; but thanks be to God, through the blood of His 
dear Son, I shall one day see and know it all for myself.’” 


CCCCXLIII. The Corruption of Sin. Jer. vi. 14. 
“ They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of My people 
slightly.” 

LIKE snow-drift when it has levelled the churchyard 

mounds, and glistening in the winter sun, lies so pure and 

fair and beautiful above the dead who fester and rot below, 

a very plausible profession, wearing the look of innocence, 

may conceal from human eyes the foulest heart-corruption. 


CCCCXLIV. Entreating Sinners to come to 
Jesus. Jer.ix 1. “Ok that my head were waters, and 
mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night 
Sor the slain of the daughter of my people!” 

ONE of Mr. Sherman’s members writes thus of his ministry : 

“This I can testify, that his sermons sent us home to our 

closets, and made us careful to harrow in the good seed of 


268 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


the Word before the birds of the air had time to rob us of 
it.” There is an anecdote told of a careless Sabbath- 
breaker who stumbled into his chapel one Sunday evening, 
when he was engaged in prayer. He took his stand in the 
aisle, and seeing the tears rolling down the minister’s cheeks 
and falling on the book as he was pleading for the con- 
version of sinners, he was aroused, and said to himself: 
“This man is evidently in earnest; there must be some- 
thing in the condition of sinners that I do not understand,” 
He remained, was instructed and converted, and became a 
useful and steady member of the congregation. : 
. 


CCCCALV. The Handwriting of God. Jer. x 
12. “He hath made the earth by His power, He hath es- 
tablished the world by His wisiom, and hath stretched out the 
heavens by [lis discretion.” is 


THOMAS CARLYLE, having on one occasion spoken of the 
First Epistle to the Corinthians as being part of a Bible 
about the Divine authority of which many wise and good. 
men have been doubtful, went on to say, “at any rate, we 
are sure that in the rocks and seas and stars we have the 
authentic handwriting of the Most High.” 


CCCCXLVI. Christ not Needed. Jer. xii 5. “How 
wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan #” 


A PROMINENT business man thus expressed himself to a 
Christian minister: “I am interested in Church matters, 
and always glad to see ministers when they call. But I 
have thought the subject over long and carefully, and have 
come to the deliberate decision that I have no need of 
Jesus.” A single week had not passed before that man was 
taken sick. His disease was accompanied with such in- 
flammation of the throat as forbade his speaking at all 
This enforced silence continued until the hour of death, 
when he was enabled to utter simply this one despairing 
whisper : “Who shall carry me over the river?” 


CCCCXLVII. The Weeping Intercessor. Jer. xiii. 
17. “ But tf ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret 
places for your pride.” 


THERE is a distinct connection between importunate agon- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 266 


_ izing and true success, even as between the travail and the 
birth, the sowing in tears and the reaping in joy. “ How 


is it that your seed comes up so soon ?” said one gardener 


to another. “Because I steep it,” was the reply. We must 
Pp ply, 


steep all our teachings in tears, “when none but God is 
nigh,” and their growth will surprise and delight us. Could 
any one wonder at Brainerd’s success, when his diary con- 
tains such notes as this ?—“ Lord’s Day, April 25th._— This 
morning spent about two hours in sacred duties, and was 


‘enabled more than ordinarily to agonize for immortal 


souls ; though it was early in the morning, and the sun 


scarcely shone at all, yet my body was quite wet with 


sweat.” The secret of Luther’s power lay in the same 
direction. Theodorus said of him: “I overheard him in 


_ prayer, but with what life and spirit did he pray! It was 


_ with so much reverence, as if he were speaking to God, yet 


with so much confidence, as if he were speaking to his 


_ friend.” 


CCCCXLVIII. A Barren Tree. Jer. xv. 15. “ Take 


me not away in Thy longsuffering.” 


_ THomas SCOTT, the commentator, tells the following in- 


cident: “A poor man, most dangerously ill, of whose 
religious state I entertained some hopes, seemed to me in 
the agonies of death. I sat by his bed for a long time, 
expecting to see him expire; but at length he awoke as 
from a sleep, and noticed me. I said, ‘ You are extremely 
ill’ He replied, ‘ Yes, but I shall not die this time.” 1 


_asked the ground of this strange confidence, saying that I 


was persuaded he would not recover. To this he answered, 
‘I have just dreamed that you, with a very venerable-look- 
ing person, came to me. He asked you what you thought 


‘of me. “What kind of tree is it? Is there any fruit?” 


You said, “No; but there are blossoms!” “Well then, 
I will spare it a little longer!”’ This dream so exactly 
met my ideas as to the man’s state of mind, and the event 
so answered his confidence by recovery, that I could not 


_ but think there was something peculiar in it. I have since 
learned that after many backslidings the man becamea 


decidedly religious character—and his case furnishes a 


‘most striking instance of the longsuffering and tender 


4 mercy of our God!” 


270 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


‘ 
—— 


CCCCXLIX. A Subject neither Studied nor 
Understood. Jer.xv. 16, 17. “Thy word was unto 
me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy 
name, O Lord God of hosts. I sat notin the assembly of the 
mockers.” 


Str ISAAC NEWTON set out in life an unbeliever; but 
on a careful examination of the evidences of Christianity, 
he found reason to change his opinion. When the cele- 
brated Dr. Edmund Halley was talking infidelity before 
him, Sir Isaac Newton addressed him thus: “I am always 
glad to hear you when you speak about astronomy, or 
other parts of the mathematics, because that is a subject 
you have studied and well understand; but you should 
not talk of Christianity, for you have not studied it. 
have, and am certain you know nothing of the matter.” 

This was a just reproof, and well suited to present-day 
infidels. : 


CCCCL. Nero. Jer. xvii. 9. “ The heart is deceitful above 
all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” | 


THE beginning of Nero’s reign was marked by acts of the : 
greatest kindness and condescension,—by affability, com- 
plaisance, and popularity. The object of his administra- 
tion seemed to be the good of his people ; and when he 
was desired to sign his name to a list of malefactors that 
were to be executed, he exclaimed, “J wish to Heaven I 
could not write!” Hewas an enemy to flattery ; and when 
the senate had liberally commended the wisdom of his 
government, Nero desired them to keep their praises till 
he deserved them. Yet this was the wretch who assassi-— 
nated his mother, who set fire to Rome, and destroyed mul- 
titudes of men, women, and children, and threw the odium 
of that dreadful action upon the Christians. The cruelties 
he exercised towards them were beyond description, while — 
he seemed to be the only one who enjoyed the tragical © 
spectacle. 


CCCCLI. Columba and His Ministry. Jer. xxiii 4_ 
“Twill set up shepherds over them which shall feed them.” : 


ON Iona, Columba built his monastery and cell, rudely | 


‘OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 27) 


constructed and thatched with reeds. Round his dwelling 

rose the wattle huts inhabited by his followers; and here 

the little band, headed by their chief, devoted the time to 
evangelizing pursuits. 

Occasionally assisting in the agricultural occupations 
of the brethren, in studying Holy Scripture and transcrib- 

ing passages of the sacred text for the use of the com- 
‘munity, Columba passed the first days of sojourn at Iona; 
but in no long time wounded, dark souls, crying for the 
light,—craving peace beyond all else,—began to flock to 
the island sanctuary, and numerous wayfarers gathered 
‘about the missionary’s dwelling. 
| Adamnan, Columba’s ecclesiastical biographer, thus 
records a dialogue that took place between the evangelist 
and one of the wanderers who had found his way to Iona. 
_ Being informed one day that a stranger from Ireland had 
arrived, Columba hastened to the hospitium to welcome 
‘him and inquire into his history. The new-comer in- 
'formed him that it was his desire, in exile, and bound 
by monastic vows, to repent of his misdeeds. To test his 
“sincerity, Columba drew a dismal picture of the austerities 
_and obligations of the island-life. 

“T am prepared,” was the reply, “to undergo the hum- 
blest and most galling conditions that can be imposed.” 
He then made his confession, and on bended knee vowed 

that he would endure whatsoever penance he was com- 
/ manded. 
“Tt is well,” said Columba. “Now rise and begone. 
Thou must first labour and repent in the neighbouring isle 
| of Tiree for seven years, after which I will see thee again.” 
_ “But,” said the penitent, “how can I expiate a perjury 
. 


of which I have not yet spoken? Before I left my coun- 
try, I slew a man. I was placed in fetters and about to 
suffer death as the penalty of my offence, when a wealthy 
kinsman paid the ransom demanded for my life. Out of 
gratitude I swore to serve him all my days; but after a 
short time of servitude I deserted him, and here I am not- 
withstanding my vow.” 

Upon hearing this confession, Columba decided that, 
“until the seven years of probation had expired, the penitent 
“should not be admitted to communion. At the end of the 
term, Columba admitted the penitent into the Church, and 


272 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


sent him back to Ireland (bearing an ivory-handled swor 
as his ransom) to his kinsman and former master. 

The kinsman, however, refused to take the ransom, deem 
ing himself unworthy ; but without fee or reward he pa 
doned and released the returned exile. The freed mai 
remained in Ireland until the death of his parents, an¢ 
ultimately returned to Iona as to home, bringing with him 
the ivory-handled sword, which had severed the chains 
slavery. 

This incident points to the influence wielded by Col 
umba over men’s souls, and also demonstrates the pre 
cautions he used to prevent the unworthy sharing if 
Church membership, or gaining premature admission inte 
the brotherhood. 

And vigilance was needed, by reason of the number o 
applicants ; for as Columba and his disciples meditated ir 
the quiet of their cells, or cheerily carried on the work of 
ploughing, sowing, and reaping, the shouts of new-come 
daily reached their ears from the shore of Mull. Then the 
boats were launched to ferry the unbidden but welcome 
guests across the strait ; and having obtained the aid they 
had journeyed weary miles to seek, the pilgrims returned 
home with glowing hearts to make known the glad tidings 
learned at the island-mission, while others remained to bh 
in due time admitted into the community, or to be sent 
forth to strive and suffer as evangelists. 


CCCCLII. A Seasonable Rebuke. Jer. xxvi.3. “J 
so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his 
way.” 


IT is related, in the “ Life of Mrs. Savage,” an excellent 
sister of Matthew Henry, that when some respectable pious 
gentlemen were one Sabbath evening assembled together, 
they unhappily engaged in conversation unsuitable to the 
day. Betty Parsons, a good old woman, overhearing them, 
said: ‘Sirs, you are making work for repentance.” This 
short and seasonable rebuke restrained them, and turned 
their conversation into a different and better channel. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 273 
CCCCLIII. Concentration of Heart. Jer. xxix. 13. 
“ And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for 

Me with all your heart.” 


A BROKEN heart is a great blessing, when it is broken 
by contrition for sin; but a advzded heart is often a fatal 
disease. 

One secret of success in life is concentration ; and many 
of our young men find it out too late. The founder of the 
Vanderbilt family bent his whole powers upon money- 
making, and left the richest family on the Continent. Sir 
Isaac Newton’s famous explanation of his splendid success 
was, “I intend my whole mind upon it.” Prof. Joseph 
Henry, of Washington, our great Christian scientist, used 
to say: “I have no faith in universal geniuses: my rule is 
to train all my guns on one point until I make a breach.” 
In these days of hot competition there is no room on the 
street for any man who puts only a fraction of himself 
into his business. 


CCCCLIV. Pliny’s Myrtle and Christ’s Cross. 
Jer. xxx. 17. ‘‘ For I will restore health unto thee, and I 
will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” 


THE heathen naturalist, Pliny, tells of a peculiarly fragrant 
myrtle-tree which grew in great abundance in his own time, 
and which he represents as possessing a strange and even 
miraculous virtue. A spray cut from it and carried in the 
hand could so continuously sustain the body that weariness 
was impossible, while it exercised such an exhilarating 
potency over the mind that no feeling approaching the 
sense of discouragement or despondency could ever be ex- 
perienced. That fabled tree was a fitting emblem of the 
efficacy of grace in healing all the soul's diseases, and, in 
its ultimate result, delivering the body also from every 
malady which may now afflict or oppress it, raising it up 
on the resurrection-day in the likeness and loveliness of 
the glorious body of the Son of God. 


CCCCLV. Restoration of Israel. JER. xxxii. 37. 
“Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither L 
have driven them in Mine anger, and in My fury, and in 
great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place.” 


IN the year 1808 a gentleman was riding with Mr. Lewis 
= 


274 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Way through a fine park in Devonshire. “Do you know 
said the gentleman to Mr. Way, “that these oaks hay 
rather a strange condition attached to them? A lady, wh 
formerly owned this park, stipulated in her will that thes 
trees should not be cut down until Jerusalem should agai 
be in possession of Israel; and they are growing still. 
Mr. Way’s interest was roused by this story, and the ide 
of the Jews’ restoration took hold of his mind ; and, shortl 
afterwards, he was the means of forming the Londo 
Society of the Jews. 


CCCCLVI. Process of Wine-Making. Jer. xlvii 
11. “ Moab hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel.” 


IN a foreign land we were once witness to the process ¢ 
wine-making. A series of tuns were ranged in order, an 
into one of these the expressed liquid was poured, whe 
the process of fermentation was to begin. It began in t 
first of the series of tuns, and, after some time, the liqui¢ 
was drawn off to another, and another, leaving a sediment 
in each; and the process was prolonged till the desirec 
degree of purity was secured. At each successive stage, 
the refinement becomes more and more obvious to an e 
perienced eye, while the wine becomes better and more 
costly ; and that is the Scriptural emblem for the pro. 
moting of holiness in the soul, 


CCCCLVII. A Storm at Sea. Jer. xlix. 23. “ There 


sorrow on the sea ; it cannot be quiet.” 


ON one occasion, Dr. Macfarlane dined with Mr. Spur 
geon at the house of Mr. Boustead, and, during the 
course of the evening, Mr. Spurgeon mentioned a very 
str-king coincidence. His brother was married to a daugh 
ter of Field-Marshal Sir J. B , whose son was captaif 
of the great turret-ship Captain, which went down in the 
storm of the evening of September 7th, 1870. Lady B 
told Mr. Spurgeon that she had been deeply impressed 
with her reading on that night in his “Evening by Evening,’ 
from these words in Jeremiah xlix. 23: “There is sorro 
on the sea; it cannot be quiet.” The meditation begins 
thus: “ Little know we what sorrow may be upon the sea 
at this moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 275 


far away on the salt sea, the hurricane may be cruelly 
seeking for the lives of men.” 


CCCCLVIII. The ‘‘Ninety and Nine.’’ Jer. 1 6. 
“ My people hath been lost sheep.” 


A WRITER describes a scene which he once saw that 
brought our Lord’s parable of the “ninety and nine” 
before his eyes :— 

“Qn the Aletsch Glacier I saw a strange, a beautiful 
sight—the parable of the ‘ninety and nine’ reacted to the 
letter. One day we were making our way with ice-axe 
and alpenstock down the glacier, when we observed a flock 
of sheep following their shepherds over the intricate wind- 
ings between crevasses, and so passing from the pastures 
on one side of the glacier to the pastures on the other. 
The flock had numbered two hundred, all told. But on 
the way one sheep had got lost. One of the shepherds, in 
his German patois, appealed to us if we had seen it. For- 
tunately, one of the party had a field-glass. With its aid 
we discovered the lost sheep far up amid a tangle of brush- 
wood on the rocky mountain-side. It was beautiful to see 
how the shepherd, without a word, left his hundred and 
ninety-nine sheep out on the glacier waste (knowing they 
would stand there perfectly still and safe), and went clam- 
bering back after the lost sheep until he found it. And he 
actually put it on his shoulder and ‘returned rejoicing.’” 


CCCCLIX. God Unwilling to Afflict. Lam. iii 
33. “For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the chilares 
of men.” 


Stk WILLIAM ROWAN HAMILTON, in writing to a friend 
about the common feeling that when prosperity is great, 
chastisement must be due, says: “ The ancients had much 
of this feeling, and partly from it they drew their idea of 
the goddess Nemesis, a mysterious power of whom one 
function was to chastise the too prosperous among men. 
To appease this imagined jealousy or envy of some 
divinity, a king (I think Polzerates of Samos) is reported 
to have been advised, by one of the wise men of Greece, 
to inflict on himself some voluntary suffering. The king 
accordingly threw into the sea a ring of great cost, and 


276 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


one which he otherwise valued. The ring was the next 
day presented to him by his cook, who had found it in 
the stomach of a fish; on hearing which, the wise man 
withdrew himself from the king’s society, thinking that 
one whose prosperity had been hitherto so uninterrupted 
must be destined for some signal and vindictive visitation 
of adversity. But this is not a Christian feeling. Our 
God indeed chasteneth those whom He loveth, but not 
because He grudges them prosperity. Let us commit 
ourselves to His hands without fear that He will visit us 
with affliction for its own sake, or because we are happy 


now. 


CCCCLX. Insensibility to Daily Mercies. 
Lam. ili, 22. “ Zhe Lord’s mercies.” 


As the Dead Sea drinks in the river Jordan, and is never 

the sweeter, and the ocean all other rivers, and is never the 
fresher, so we are apt to receive daily mercies from God, 
and still remain insensible of them, unthankful for them. 


CCCCLXI. God Fulfilling His Threatenings. 
Lam. v. 18. “ Because of the mountain of Zion, which ts 
desolate, the foxes walk upon it.” 


IT is said that two rabbis, when coming near Jerusalem, 
saw a fox running up the hill of Zion. The oldest of the 
two men began to weep at the sight, but Rabbi Eliezar 
laughed. ‘ Wherefore dost thou mourn?” he said. “I 
mourn because I see fulfilled before mine eyes that was 
written in Lamentations: ‘ Because of the mountain of 
Zion, which is desolate, the foxes fall upon it.” “And that — 
is the reason of my laughter,” repeated Rabbi Eliezar, “for 
when I see with mine own eyes that God is fulfilling His 
threatenings to the letter, I have in it a sure pledge that 
not one of His promises shall fail, for He is more willing 
to be gracious than to chastise.” 


CCCCLXII. A Quaker Tailor. Ezex. i 3. ‘ Zhe 
word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest.” 


JOHN WOOLMAN was the son of a poor farmer near the 
village of Mount Holly in New Jersey. He was first 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES 277 


V apprenticed, as a child, to a baker, then to a tailor. A 
Biailor he remained through life. He was not a scholar ; 
he was a man neither of exceptional intellectual force nor 
_ of personal magnetism ; he taught no new creed, said and 
did nothing to startle the world. Yet the little Quaker 
tailor was a power while living, and is still a power in the 
_ world, although he has been dead more than a century. 
| What was his secret? It was a simple matter enough. 
_ When he was a boy of seven, sitting alone by the roadside, 
one day, he read the words: “And I beheld a pure river 
_ of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the 
_ throne of God.” They moved him as only children can be 

moved. The idea of this pure water of life flowing from 

God wholly possessed him as he grew older. It was Truth. 
In his journal, Truth always means God. While at his 

school, or at work in his shop, the thought persistently 

came to him—if he could make of himself a conduit 

through which this water of life should pass to men; stifle 
_all his own wishes and traits, obliterate his own character 
if necessary, and stand ready and passive for God to use! 

The only point wherein John Woolman differed from 
other men was that he succeeded in doing this. In great 
actions, and in the least, he waited to feel the “divine 
drawing” in his mind before he moved. It was the story 
of the Hebrew prophets over again. 


CCCCLXIII. Christmas Evans on Preaching. 
EzeK. ili. 17. “ Son of man, I have made thee a watchman 
unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at My mouth, 
and give them warning from Me.” 


CuURISTMAS EVANS makes the following remarks on 
preaching: “I want preachers to read all they can, and 
make use of ideas which fall like the manna of old; but 
let them take them home to grind, and boil, and bake in 
the mill of prayer and the heated pot of reflection; then 
place them like the twelve loaves of shewbread on the 
golden table of the ministry before the worshippers and 
holy priesthood. I want the entire word to be preached, 
because it is given of God; but with such connections as 
exist in the Solar System, or in the human body, which, 
if disconnected, the life and effect depart. The sun is ‘the 


278 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


world’s life and a globe of fire.’ Were a husbandman wh 
tilled and cultivated the earth for its products to hol 
a sackcloth towards the sun, he would be esteemed a 
ignorant owl in our sight. Were a surgeon to amputate 
limb, a hand or leg from the body, so that the connection 
with the great artery of the heart be broken, and the 
endeavour to make the blood circulate through the severe 
limb, to quicken and to warm it, we should only say, * R 
unite the limb to the body that the blood may pervade i 
in its course, or else as soon as you like, bury it in th 
earth. Many preachers, I understand, have more interes 
in preaching about the earth’s being stricken and punishe 
with drought last year than about Jesus being struck o 
the cross all red with His blood! Christ’s sacrifice and th 
Holy Spirit’s grace occupy the place of the central sun 
and of the heart’s blood in the Christian system as those 
do in their own systems. I have observed that an un- 
evangelical style like that described has latterly crept in 
amongst all denominations in Wales in preaching duties. 
What good has preaching the dead cross ever done? Are 
the churches more heavenly, industrious, and striving ?. 
or are they more unspiritual, insipid, and lethargic ? 
Here is gun, here is leaden bullet, here is flint, here is 
touch-hole, here is finger, but where is the powder? The 
ball will never start without that. He is the mover of the 
whole, ‘Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.’ 
1. Let us, then, preach the whole truth evangelically. 2. 
Faithfully, for souls are in danger. 3. Plainly and clearly, 
since heaps of our hearers know less than we imagine. 
4. Affectionately, fervently, and winningly! for the flame 
of Calvary’s love is intense, and should cause a glow in 
the pulpit, melting everything to its own consistency, and 
joining man to God by the cross, to be one spirit for ever 
and for ever.” 


CCCCLXIV. Black, Cold, Hard. Ezex. xi. 19. 
“J will take the stony heart out of their flesh,” 


THEODORE MONOD made use of a beautiful illustration at 
the last Dublin convention. He said: “If a piece of iron 
could speak, what would it say? It would say, ‘I am_ 
black, I am cold, I am hard.’ Perfectly true. But put 

1 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 275 


that piece of iron into a furnace and wait a while, and 
what would it say >—‘ The blackness is gone, and the cold- 
ness is gone, and the hardness is gone ’—it has passed into 
a new experience. But if that piece of iron could speak, 
surely it would not glory in itself, because the fire and the 
iron are two distinct things that remain distinct to the last. 
If it could glory, it would glory in the fire, and that in itself 
—in the fire that kept it a bright, molten mass. So in 
myself. I am black, I am cold, and I am hard; but if the 
Lord takes possession of my soul, if I am filled with love, 
if His Spirit fills my being, the blackness will go, and the 
coldness will go, and the hardness will go, and yet the 
glory does not belong to me, but to the Lord who keeps 
me in a sense of His love.” 


CCCCLXV. The Evil Heart of Unbelief. Ezex. 
xi. 19. ‘‘/ will take the stony heart out of their flesh.” 


AN old friend of Sir W. Rowan Hamilton’s wrote him 
after a long silence, and took occasion to express interest 
in his inner life, and specially in his spiritual state, and 
the following is an extract from his correspondence on the 
subject : “My struggles and alternations in the spiritual 
life have not been between belief and doubt, but between 
warmth and coldness. My zwtellect has never ceased to 
embrace Christianity with satisfactory and complete con. 
viction : it is the evil heart of unbelief which has, too often, 
departed from the living God.” 


CCCCLXVI. ‘I was Born so.” Ezex.xiig. “Jwes 
puta new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart 
out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of fiesh.” 


BisHoP HALL says, that the last Cardinal ever seen in 
England, when a skilful astrologer pretended to tell him 
something of the future from a calculation of his nativity, 
said: “Such, perhaps, I was born; but since that time I 
have been born again, and my second nativity has crossed 
my first.” And on this remark of the Cardinal, Bishop 
Hall observes, “The power of nature is a good plea for 
those that acknowledge nothing above nature; but for a 
Christian to excuse his intemperateness by his natural 
inclination, and to say, ‘I was born so,’ is an apology 
worse than the fault.” Right, most worthy bishop, right 


280 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


for you, and well for good people of all degrees to bear in 
mind this sober bit of truth. “I was born so,” is the 
standing and all-sufficient excuse which thousands of Chris- 
tians make to themselves for those infirmities of character 
of which they are conscious, but which they do not care to 
correct. One finds secret pleasure in the indulgence of a 
passion that God cannot approve, and he persuades himself 
it is not so very wrong, because it is so natural to him. 
Again, he has faults which render him unhappy oftentimes, — 
and very disagreeable to his neighbours, but he makes no © 
effort to reform them, on the same plea: “I was born so, 
and cannot help it.” He is morose in his temper; he 
knows it; but he says it is his way, it is natural to him, 
and it is useless to try and be otherwise. He has a quick 
way of speaking his mind, regardless of the feelings of 
others, and quite careless of times, places, and persons; 
and when the fault is hinted to him, he says, “Oh, that’s 
my way.” So it is, and a very bad way; and because it is 
your way, you ought to change it. ; 


CCCCLXVII. The Forest-guarded Highway. 
EzEK. xviii. 4. “ Zhe soul that sinneth, it shall die.” 


A TRAVELLER relates that, when passing through an 
Austrian town, his attention was directed to a forest on a 
slope near the road, and he was told that death was the 
penalty of cutting down one of those trees. He was in- 
credulous until he was further informed that they were the 
protection of the city, breaking the force of the descending 
avalanche, which, without this natural barrier, would sweep 
over the quiet home of thousands. When a Russian army 
was marching there, and began to cut away the defence for 
fuel, the inhabitants besought them to take their dwellings 
instead, which was done. 

Such, he well thought, are the sanctions of God’s moral 
law. On the integrity and support of that law depends 
the safety of the universe. “The soul that sinneth, it shall 
die,” is a merciful proclamation. “He that offends in one 
point is guilty of all,” is equally just and benevolent. In 
this view, to every sinner out of Christ, God must be “a 
consuming fire.” To transgress once is to lay the axe at 
the root of the tree which represents the security and peace 
of every loyal soul in the wide dominions of the Almighty. 


“bal 
+> 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 281 


CCCCLXVIII. “Jesus Opposers.” EZzeExK. xxii. 29 
“ The people of the land have used oppression.” 


THE story of the triumphs of the Gospel in Japan 
are most interesting, but there are still many “Jesus 
opposers.” 

For some time past there has been strong opposition to 
Christianity on the part of certain people calling them- 
selves the “ Yaso Taiji,” or “Jesus opposers.” They have 
been lecturing all over the country, and have drawn large 
crowds of people to hear what they had to say. Some of 
the speakers are renegade Greeks and Catholics, who said, 
“We have tried this religion, and have found it a decep- 
tion and fraud. It is a subtle and wicked scheme to get 
possession of the country. As Christ taught His followers 
to love one another, so if any Christian nation makes war 
apon Japan, the Japanese Christians would not fight, but 
yield at once to their enemies.” 

Of course such persons have never been sincere Chris- 
tians, and have doubtless professed to be in the hope of 
gain. 

A Christian physician recently went to Yokosuka, and 
when his belief was made known, his companions said he 
must renounce his religion or become an outcast from their 
society. He was much troubled, and shut himself up for 
two days in order that he might give himself to the study 
of the Bible and prayer. He then said to his friends: 
“Let come what will, I shall not deny my Master,” and he 
went about his duties with a firm trust in God. He has 
continued to live as a Christian, and to his great joy his 
companions do not oppose as he expected, but some of 
them are now attending religious services, and are ap- 
parently sincere inquirers. The influence of his exemplary 
character and joyful life has been to lead those who 
once opposed to seek for the same precious hope and 
experience. 


CCCCLXIX. Hearing your Funeral Sermon. 
EzEK. xxiv. 17. “ Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the 
dead.” 


THE eulogiums which one often hears and reads of living 
personages, calls up the experience of an eccentric charac- 


282 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


ter, who had always insisted that every man ought to hear 
his own funeral sermon, since it concerned 42m more than 
anybody else! So when he was very ill, and sure in his 
own mind that he was “elected to die,” he sent his wife to 
the old minister, who kindly complied with the novel re- 
quest. When he had prepared the sermon, he came with 
all gravity to read it to the sick man. “I never was much 
given to being proud, or sot up,” said the old man (who 
lived to tell the story), “but that sermon almost did the 
business for me—to think of the church crowded with 
people, and me lying there in my coffin, and the minister 
looking down from the pulpit and saying all that for an 
hour! Why, I almost backslode! I came mighty nigh 
falling from grace! I tell you, if there’s anything that'll 
make a man proud and sot up, it’s hearing his own funeral 
sermon.” 


CCCCLXX. A Mighty Noise. Ezex. xxvi. 13. 
“And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease.” 


“THE singing of an army, to beguile the weary march, do 
you not remember it, old soldiers, with hairs just turning 
grey? It is an ascertained fact of acoustics that the sur- 
face of a plain trembles with the sound and the air fairly 
rocks with such melodious concussion. When Xenophon’s 
army first caught sight of the Euxine, after an exhaustive 
march of suffering, they cried out, ‘ Thalatta, thalatta!’ 
‘The sea, the sea!’ and birds fell dead from the mighty 
shout. So fish are killed by the thunder of heavy ordnance. 
I remember, at the first ‘Peace Jubilee’ in Boston, that 
the singing of so vast a chorus, with accompaniments, 
wrought me to the pitch of wildness; my nerves turned 
tyrants, and I fled the building, lest I died.” 


CCCCLXXI. Groaning, but not Grumbling. Ezex. 
xxx. 24. “ He shall groan before him with the groanings of a 
deadly wounded man.” 


“ A RELIGIOUS commander being shot in battle, when the 
wound was searched and the bullet cut out, some standing 
by pitying his pain, he replied, ‘Though I groan, yet I 
bless God I do not grumble.’ God allows His people to 
groan, though not to grumble,” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 284 


CCCCLXXII. The Dumb Bell. Ezex. xxxiili. 22. 


“ And my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.” 


Mr. GATTY, in his book on “ Bells,” gives the following 
anecdote, on the credit of Cardinal Baronius: “When 
Charles II., King of France, A.D. 615, was at Sens, in Bur- 
gundy, he heard a bell in the church of St. Stephen, the 
sound of which pleased him so much that he ordered it to 
be transported to Paris, The Bishop of Sens, however, was 
greatly displeased at this, and the bell so sympathised with 
him that it turned dumb on the road and lost all its sound. 
When the king heard of this, he commanded that the bell 
should be carried back to its old quarters, when, strange to 
relate, as it approached the town, it recovered its original 
tone, and began to ring so as to be heard at Sens, whilst 
yet about four leagues distant from it.” 

The true preacher grows silent if forced to any other 
service than his Lord’s. If he attempts to speak on any 
other topic than that which concerns his Lord and the 
Gospel, he misses his former force ; he is not at home, he 
is glad to end his speech and sit down. Our bell is dumb 
if it does not ring out for Jesus. The world would soon 
dismiss us if it had hired us to be its orator, for our heart 
is elsewhere, and only upon the one dear, familiar theme 
can we be eloquent. 


CCCCLXXIII. Charlotte Elliot’s Hymn. Ezex. 
Xxxili. 32. “A very lovely song.” 


SomE fifty years ago, that eminent minister, Cesar Malan 
of Geneva, was a guest of the Elliots, a well-to-do family 
in the West End of London. 

One evening, in conversation with the daughter, Charlotte, 
he wished to know if she was a Christian. The young lady 
resented his question, and told him that religion was a 
matter which she did not wish to discuss. Mr. Malan 
replied, with his usual sweetness of manner, that he would 
not pursue the subject then if it displeased her, but he 
would pray that she might “give her heart to Christ, and 
become a useful worker for Him.” 

Several days afterwards the young lady apologised for 
her abrupt treatment of the minister, and confessed that 
his question and his parting remark had troubled her, 


284 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


“But I do not know how to find Christ,” she said. 
want you to help me.” 

“Come to Him just as you are,” said Mr. Malan. 

He little thought that one day that simple reply woul 
be repeated in song by the whole Christian world. 

Further advice resulted in opening the young lady’s 
mind to spiritual light, and her life of devout activity and 
faith began. She possessed literary gifts, and having 
assumed the charge of the Yearly Remembrancer on the 
death of its editor, she inserted several original poems 
(without her name) in making up her first number. One 
of the poems was :— 

“Just as I am, without one plea, 
But that Thy blood was shed for me, 
And that Thou bidd’st me come to Thee, 
O Lamb of God, I come !” 
The words of Pastor Malan, realized in her own experience, 
were of course the writer’s inspiration. : 

Beginning thus its public history in the columns of an 
unpretending religious magazine, the little anonymous 
hymn, with its sweet counsel to troubled minds, found its 
way into devout persons’ scrap-books, then into religious 
circles and chapel assemblies, and finally into the hymnals 
of the “ Church universal.” Some time after its publication 
a philanthropic lady, struck by its beauty and spiritual 
value, had it printed ona leaflet, and sent for circulation 
through the cities and towns of the kingdom; and in con- 
nection with this an incident at an English watering-place 
seems to have first revealed its authorship to the world, 
Miss Elliot, being in feeble health, was staying at Torquay, 
in Devonshire, under the care of an eminent physician. 
One day the doctor, who was an earnest Christian man, 
placed one of those floating leaflets in his patient’s hands, 
saying he felt sure she would like it. The surprise and 
pleasure were mutual when she recognised her own hymn, 
and he discovered that she was its author. 


CCCCLXXIV. Among the Flock. Ezex. xxxiv. 12. 
“4s a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is 
among his sheep that are scattered.” . 

THE late Irenzus Prime gives the following account of his 

father’s visiting among his flock :— 

“As soon as my father arrived at any house in his 


* 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 285 


scattered and extended parish, all the ordinary cares of the 
family were suspended, and the whole time of every mem- 
ber given to him. On his first induction to this people, it 


_ was the custom of the good woman of the house to begin 


to fly about when the minister came, to fix up the best 
parlour, and get ready some warm biscuit for tea, or a pair 
of chickens for dinner, if he came before noon, and thus all 
her time was spent, like that of Martha, in much serving. 
Mr. Prime soon put an end to that mode of entertainment, 
by informing his people from the pulpit, that when he 
came to see them at their houses, it was not to be feasted, 
but to feed their souls, and the souls of their children; 
and, therefore, if they wished to please him, they would do 
as Mary did, sit. still and listen. This hint, after sundry 
repetitions, had the desired effect, and he was able to enjoy 
the whole time of his visit in those great duties which he 
felt to be of unspeakable importance to the spiritual welfare 
of the family. The heads of the household were first con- 
versed with freely on the progress which they were making 
in personal religion ; if they had doubts, and fears, or any 
other difficulties about which they needed direction, they 
were encouraged to make them known, and from the stores 
of his well-furnished mind, and the richer treasures of a 
deeply spiritual experience and great familiarity with the 
Word of God, he was able to impart just that counsel 
which their trials seemed to require. If they were back- 
ward in their performance of any of the acknowledged 
duties of Christian life, if the worship of God in the family 
was not faithfully attended to, if they were at variance with 
any of their neighbours, or slack in the discharge of their 
obligations to their fellow-men, he would in all kindness, 
but with skilful decision, as their soul’s physician, give 
them those prescriptions without which it was impossible 
for their souls to thrive. Such fidelity and freedom on his 
part, so far from alienating their affections, did but endear 


_ him to them the more, as they saw his affectionate interest 


in their soul’s concerns, and felt the power and truth of the 
admonitions which he gave. And then these admonitions 
were often biessed of God to the great comfort and edifi- 


_ cation of the people, who thus found in their own happy 


experience the ineffable value of a faithful pastor, whom 
they loved even when he came to wound, 


286 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


“The children were called in, and were examined, as 
have hinted, in the catechism, in which they were regularl: 
instructed by their parents. The doctrines therein con. 
tained were familiarly explained, and the young we 
most earnestly persuaded to give their hearts to th 
Saviour, while yet in the morning of their days. As th 
congregation was widely extended, Mr. Prime would giv 
notice on the Sabbath, that during the week on a certai 
day, he would visit in such a neighbourhood, and at thre 
o'clock in the afternoon he wished the families in tha 
vicinity to assemble at a house named, for religious con 
versation and prayer. And those were good meetings, 
you may be sure ; the farmer’s house in which it was hel 
would be filled with parents and children, the halls and th 
staircase crowded ; a little stand, with a Bible and Psalm 
book, would be set for the minister at some point from 
which his voice could easily be heard over all the house 
and such prayers and such appeals would be then and 
there made as the Spirit of God delights to attend and 
bless. How many tears did the children shed in those 
meetings! not alarmed by terrible words of coming wrath, 
but melted with the pathos of gospel love, and moved by 
the strong appeals of that holy man. Impressions, I know, 
were made at those meetings that eternity will only 
brighten and deepen, as the memory of those solemn, yet 
happy hours, mingles with the joy of immortal bliss. 

“The effects of this ministry were, as might be expected, 
immediate and permanent. The Word of the Lord had 
free course and was glorified. The young grew up to 
manhood with strong attachments to the faith of their 
fathers, the members of the Church were steadfast in their 
adherence to the truth as they had received it, and it was 
rare to see a man in the community who was not a pro- 
fessor of religion The institutions of the Gospel com- 
manded the respect and reverence of the whole people. 
Impiety was scarcely known in the town, so deep-settled 
and wide-spread was this regard for the truths of God’s 
Word and the ordinances of His house.” 


CCCCLXXV. The Root. Ezex. xxxiv. 29. “J will 
raise up for them a plant of renown.” 
A SON of one of the priests of Mysore, who had been 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 287 


aroused, by reading a tract, to deep anxiety about the salva- 
tion of his soul, travelled nearly two hundred miles to visit 
a missionary to inquire about the truth. On one occasion 
he was much interested in reading Bunyan’s “ Pilgrim's 
Progress.” He said several times to the missionary, that 
it was better than the Bible. The missionary pointed to 
the scene before them and said, “ Do you see that beautiful 
mango tree there?” “ Yes,” was the reply. “ Don’t you see 
its beautiful fruit, eat it, and enjoy its sweetness?” “ Yes.” 
“And where would that tree be if there was no root to it ?” 
“Oh,” said the man, “now I see what you mean! The 
Bible is the root, and all the other good books in the world 
are produced from it.” 

The lesson was a timely one, nor should we ever forget, 
while enjoying the sweetness of some work which the 
Christian press sends forth, that the Bible is the root from 
which it springs. Plant that blessed root in any soul, 
and by-and-by the sweet fruit of Christian literature will 
appear. Fail to plant the Bible, and we shall look in vain 
for all the sweet and refreshing fruits. 


CCCCLXXVI. The Power of a Living Bible. 
Ezek. xxxvi. 27. “ And I will put My Spirit within you, 
and cause you to walk in My statutes.” 


NOWHERE is it more true than in the Christian life that 
actions speak louder than words. A young man had 
become an infidel, and would no longer read the printed 
Bible, but he could not help seeing the fruits of faith in the 
life of another. 

In his father’s house a young lady resided, who was a 
relative of the family. Her fretful temper made all around 
her uncomfortable. She was sent to a boarding-schoc!}, 
and was absent some time. While there she became a 
true and earnest Christian. On her return she was so 
changed that all who knew her wondered and rejoiced. 
She was patient and cheerful, kind, unselfish, and charitable. 
The lips that used to be always uttering cross and bitter 
words now spoke nothing but sweet, gentle, loving words. 
Her infidel cousin George was greatly surprised at this. 
He watched her closely for some time, till he was thoroughly 
satisfied that it was a real change that had taken place in 
his young cousin. Then he asked her what had caused 


288 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


this great change. She told him it was the grace of God 
which had made her a Christian and had changed her 
heart. | 
He said to himself, “I don’t believe that God has any- — 
thing to do with it, though she thinks He had. But it ig 
a wonderful change that has taken place in her, and I 
should like to be as good as she is. I wi// be so.” Then 
he formed a set of good resolutions. He tried to control 
his tongue and his temper, and kept a strict watch over 
himself. He was all the time doing and saying what he 
did not wish to do and say. And, as he failed time after 
time, he would turn and study his good cousin’s example. 
He would read this ving Bible, and said to himself, “How 
does it happen that she, who has not as much knowledge 
or as much strength of character as I have, can do what I 
can’t do? She must have some help that I don’t know of. 
It must be as she says, the help of God. I will seek that 
help.” He went into his chamber and prayed to that God 
whose very existence he had denied. He prayed earnestly. 
God heard him, helped him, and he became a Christian. 


CCCCLAXVII. Human Thought and Heavenly 
Light. Dan. ii. 22. “He revealeth the deep and secret 
things: he knoweth what ts in the darkness, and the light 
dwelleth with Him.” 


SHORTLY before his death, St. Thomas Aquinas fell into 
a state of profound and rapturous contemplation, and on 
coming to himself, he did not sit down to his desk, nor 
would he dictate anything, although he was still engaged 
on part of his famous “ Summary.” 

Even his nearest friends, who knew him intimately, 
could not account for this. At last his secretary said, 
“My father, why hast thou cast on one side so great a 
work which thou didst begin for the glory of God and the 
illumination of the world?” All St. Thomas Aquinas 
replied was, “Non possum,”—‘“I cannot write any more.” 
Being constantly implored to continue writing, the saint 
ever made the same reply, “I cannot, for everything that 
I have written appears to me as simply rubbish.” 

So in proportion to the clearness of vision must ever 
seem the noblest reaches of human thought, compared with 
the heavenly light. 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 289 


CCCCLXXVIII. Able to Deliver. Dan. iii. 17. 


“Our God whom we serve ts able to deliver.” 


A BOAT was once seen driving on along the rapid that 
hurries to the Falls of Niagara. To the horror of some 
that watched it from the shore, they saw one aboard, and 
asleep. They ran, they shouted, they cried. The sleeper 
woke, and at one wild glance took in all his danger. Yet 
what won’t a man do for his life! To seize the oars, to 
pull her head round to the shore, was the work of an 
instant. With death in the thunders of the cataract 
roaring loud and louder in his ear, how he pulled! It was 
cruel to waken him; there was no hope, unless God had 
sent down the eagle that was sailing overhead to bear him 
away upon her wings; the wild waters shot him like an 
arrow to the brink. As near hell as that, you may be 
saved—plucked from the very brink of ruin. 


CCCCLXXIX. Inthe Furnace. Dawn. iii. 25. “He 
answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the 
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the 
Sourth is like the Son of God.” 


BLANDINA was one of the early Christian martyrs at Lyons, 
in the year 177 A.D. They roasted her on a red-hot iron 
chair, put her in a net, and exposed her to the horns of the 
wildest oxen ; whirled her in instruments of torture till her 
senses were lost, and then plunged her into flames; and 
day after day did that, while she apparently experienced 
little pain, calling out at every interval when her strength 
came back: “I am a believer in the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, one God, who is with me. There is no 
evil done among us. I am a Christian.” And so she 
passed hence, but speaks to us as one yet living. 


CCCCLXXX. ‘Near Christ, near the Fire.’’ 
Dan. iii. 25. “Lo, J see four men loose, walking in the 
midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the 
Sourth is like the Son of God.” 


A PREACHER has said, speaking on the subject of the good 
effects of trial, “If it be true, according to a fine saying 
U0 


290 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


current in the Apostolic Church, that to be ‘near Christ 
is to be ‘near the fire,’ it is also true that to be zm the 
fire is to be with Christ ; and if we are in the furnace with ~ 
the Son of man, the fire will not consume, but purge and 
refine.” 


CCCCLXXXI. An Old Martyr for Christ. Dan. 
iii, 21. “ Zhen these men were bound in their ceats, their hosen, 
and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into 
the midst of the burning fiery furnace.” 


RAWLINS WHITE, an old martyr, was very decrepid, and 
for years he had been bowed almost double, and could 
hardly walk; but he was condemned to death, and on his 
way to the stake, we are told, the bonds of his body seemed 
to break, and he roused himself up as straight and exu- 
berant as an athlete, and walked to the fire singing victory 
over the flames. Ah, it was the joy of dying for Jesus that 
straightened his body, and roused his soul! 


CCCCLXXXII. An Innovation. Dawn. iii. 22. “ Zhe 


King’s commandment was urgent.” 


JOHN WESLEY received many of his most remarkable traits 
from his mother. He had the same regard for order and 
authority, and yet the same readiness to follow up an 
opportunity in defiance of all precedent. 

Mrs. Wesley, loving order and sticking by formal rule 
as she did, could act a very bold and independent part 
once she was certain that conscience spoke clear in her 
Ereast. When the rector was away on one of his more 
Ienethened absences at Convocation, she had gathered her 
children and the servants together to read and converse 
with them on the Sunday afternoon. The neighbours 
soon heard of it, and many of them wished to join the 
circle at the rectory. The numbers increased, till at last 
not a few had to go away from want of space. The rector 
had been advised of the innovation by the curate, and 
wrote to his wife that her conduct was singular, and 
counselled greater prudence. But the wife was able to give 
a reason for her course :— 

“IT cannot conceive why any should reflect on you be- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 291 


cause your wife endeavours to draw people to church, and 
to restrain them from profaning the Lord’s Day, by reading 
to them and other persuasions. For my part, I value no 
censure on this account. I have long since shook hands 
with the world, and I heartily wish I had never given them 
more occasion to speak against me. As to its looking 
particular, I grant it does. And so does almost everything 
that is serious, or that may any way advance the glory of 
God or the salvation of souls, if it be performed out of a 
pulpit, or in the way of common conversation ; because in 
our corrupt age the utmost care and diligence has been 
used to banish all discourse of God, or spiritual concerns, 
_ out of society, as if religion were never to appear out of the 
closet, and we were to be ashamed of nothing so much as 
of confessing ourselves to be Christians, 

“ As for the proposal of letting some other person read, 
alas! you don’t consider what a people these are. I don’t 
think one man among them could read a sermon without 
spelling a good part of it. Nor has any of our family a 
voice strong enough to be heard by such a number of 
people. 

“But there is one thing about which Iam much dis- 
satisfied ; that is, their being present at family prayers. I 
don’t speak of any concern I am under, merely because so 
many are present. For those who have the honour of 
speaking to the great and holy God need not be ashamed 
to speak before the whole world ; but because of my sex I 
doubt if it is proper for me to present the prayers of the 
people to God. Last Sunday I would fain have dismissed 
them before prayers ; but they begged so earnestly to stay, 
I durst not deny them.” 

After having stated all her reasons in justification of the 
course she had taken, she wound up with these character- 
istic words: “If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this 
assembly, do not tell me you deszve me to do it, for that 
will not satisfy my conscience; but send me your posztive 
command, in such full and express terms as may absolve 
me from guilt and punishment for neglecting the op- 
portunity of doing good, when you and I shall appear 
before the great and awful tribunal of our Lord Jesus 
Christ.” 


292 OLD TESTAMENT “ANECDOTES. 


CCCCLXXXIII. Suggestions to the Sick. Dan. 
vi. 35. “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, 


and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His 


hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” 


ELLICE HOPKINS tells the following story in speaking of 
some practical suggestions to the sick. “We deal with 


the sick too exclusively religiously, or, as I would rather — 
say, too narrowly, since God is the God of all consolation. © 


We say to them, with sinking heart and tears in our eyes, 
‘It is God’s will, and you must bear your burden’; but we 
forget the ropes and pulleys and levers which might, with 
a little contrivance on our part, help to lift it—all the 
helps to bearing it—which may be also in God’s will As 
an instance of what I mean, I may take the case of one 
my father loved almost asa son. As a young man, with 
splendid abilities and a brilliant career just opening before 
him, he was suddenly shot stone blind, not through any 
carelessness on the part of him who did it, but owing to his 
being, in the eagerness of a sportsman, a little out of the 
proper line. His life thus suddenly plunged into darkness, 
for days he remained completely prostrate. Doubtless 
those around him spoke to him of the love of God and 
submission to His will; but it seemed impossible to raise 
him up out of the darkness within and without that had 
fallen upon him. The first thing that roused him was a 
letter from my father. I had often wondered what it was 
in that letter that succeeded when all else failed, and many 
years after it came into my hands, having been carefully 
preserved in the family. It too spoke of submission to the 
will of God, but the main part of the letter was taker up 
in carefully pointing out all that great powers of mind, even 
with the drawback of blindness, could accomplish, the 
branches of science which required, for further development, 
the abstract thought to which blindness would be favour- 
able ; the lines of political life to which it would be no 
impediment. Submission to God’s will was enforced, but the 
helps to realizing it as a loving will at the same time care- 
fully suggested. He to whom that letter was addressed is 
now one of our leading men.” 


el lel 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES 293 


CCCCLXAXXIV. Touching Godin Prayer. Dan. 
vi. 10. “ He kneeled upon his knees three times a day, ana 


prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” 


THERE is an old story of mythology about a giant, named 
Antzus, who was born by the earth. In order to keep 
alive, this giant was obliged to touch the earth as often as 
once in five minutes, and every time he thus came in con- 
tact with the earth he became twice.as strong as before. 
The Christian resembles Antzus. In order to bea living 
Christian, he must often approach his heavenly Father in 
prayer; and every time he thus approaches, he becomes 
stronger and more able to resist the wiles and assaults of 
_ the adversary. 


CCCCLXXXV. Religion a Thing for Every 
Day. Dan. vi. 20. “ Zhy God, whom thou servest con- 
tinually.” 


HENRY WARD BEECHER, speaking of taking religion 
into the week, says: “The tides come twice a day in New 
York harbour, but they only come once in seven days in 
God’s harbour of the sanctuary. They rise on Sunday, 
but ebb on Monday, and are down and out all the week. 
Men write over their store door, ‘Business is business,’ 
and over the church door, ‘ Religion is religion’ ; and they 
say to religion, ‘Never come in here,’ and to business, 
“Never go in there. Let us have no secular things in 
the pulpit. Here we want repose, and sedatives and 
healing balm; we have enough of knives and probes and 
lancets in the week. Here let us have poetry; we want 
to sing hymns and to hear about heaven.’ God’s law is 
not allowed to go into the week. If the merchant spies it 
in the store, he throws it over the counter. If it is found 
in the street, the multitudes pursue it, pelting it with stones, 
as if it were a wolf escaped from a menagerie, and shouting, 
‘Back with you! you have got out of Sunday.’ There is 
no religion in all this. It is mere sentimentalism. Re- 
ligion belongs to every day. High in an ancient belfry 
there is a clock, and once a week the old sexton winds it 
up; but it has neither dial-plate nor hands. The pen- 
dulum swings, and there it goes ticking, ticking, day in, day 


294 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


out, unnoticed and useless. What the old clock is in its 


dark chamber, keeping time to itself, but never showing it, 


that is the mere sentimentality of religion, high above life, in © 
the region of airy thought, perched up in the top of Sunday, © 


but without dial or point to let the people know what 


o'clock it is, of time or eternity!” 


CCCCLXXXVI. The Light of Eternity. Dan. 
xi. 2. “ And many of them that sleep in the dust of the 
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame 
and everlasting contempt.” 


MICHAEL ANGELO once went into the studio of a young 
artist who had just executed a statue to stand in the public 
square. Angelo saw its grave defects, and pointed them 
out to his young friend. The exultant artist did not appre- 
ciate the criticism of his work, and supposed the greater 
man to be moved with envy. So he told him, in the dim 
obscurity of his workshop he could not see the defects 
which were so apparent to the aged critic, and in passion 
sneered at the opinion given. ‘ Well,” said Angelo, not 
the least disturbed, “the light of the public square will 
test it.” 

“The light of the public square will test it.” Ah, yes! 
The light of the public square is to test every human life. 
Eternal blaze shall pour upon it, and defects unseen by 
the poorer light of earth will grow to ghastly deformities. 
The light of the public square will test it! 


CCCCLXXXVII. ‘*Some to Everlasting Life.’ 
Dan. xii. 2. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of 
the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to 
shame and everlasting contempt.” 


THERE is an Eastern story of the “Amreeta water of 
Immortality,” which, when drunk by the impure, ran 
through their veins in the liquid fire of unspeakable agony ; 
but, when drunk by the pure, this water spread through 
their whole being the glow of eternal life and peace. 


" 
¥ 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 295 


4 CCCCLXXXVIII. An Awakening. Dan. xii 2. 
: “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall 
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever- 


i lasting contempt.” 


_A YOUNG somnambulist got out of her garret window 
upon the roof and, in the sight of a silent and trembling 


perhaps of a coming festival, for she kept smiling and mur- 
muring her gay songs. They were powerless to help her, 


j and held their breath in very horror as she sometimes 


Tear walked up and down the giddy height, dreaming 


approached the edge. Suddenly a little candle was lit in 
‘an opposite window and flashed upon her eyes. She woke, 
and there was a scream and a deadly fall. It had killed 
her | 


CCCCLXXXIX. God’s Care of His People 
Hos. ii. 18. “ And in that day I will make a covenant for 
them with the beasts of the field.” 


JOHN HUGHES was a most holy, devoted man, and gteatly 
beloved, and his name is held in honour wherever he was 
known. As superintendent minister of a circuit, he had 
to visit three congregations, administer the Lord’s Supper 
in each, and return to preach in the evening at Wrexham. 
He left in good time in the morning. When not far on 
his journey he saw a large, fierce-looking dog following 
him. But neither stones nor scolding would make it go 
away. When he had gone into the pulpit he saw the dog 
lie down quietly by the side of it. So it did to the second 


and third chapels. On Mr. Hughes’ return home he was 


See 


_waylaid by two men, who demanded his purse. Mr. 
Hughes felt he could not contend with the two powerful 
men, but on whistling the dog was at once at his side, and 


_furiously attacked the would-be robbers. They took to 
- their heels, and Mr. Hughes walked on unmolested till he 


; reached town, when the dog left him, and he saw it no 
_ more. Mr. Hughes never spoke of this incident but ina 
. 


spirit of astonishment and gratitude. 


296 ' OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCCXC. A Personal God. Hos. v.15. “Jn theip 
affliction they will seek Me early.” 


A LEADER of thought in Germany, famous as a poet, famous 
as a man of letters, who had through his long literary 
career fought against the idea of a personal God, when: 
poor in purse, paralytic in body, and in his last week of life, 
wrote thus to one of his old class-mates, and under its style 
of banter there is a pathetic minor tone of earnest feeling :— 

“A religious reaction has set in upon me for some time. 
God knows whether the morphine or the poultices have 
anything to do with it. It zs so. I believe in a personal 
God. To this we come when we are sick to death and 
broken down. Do not makea crime of it. If the German 
people accept the personal king of Prussia in their need, 
why should not I accept a personal God? My friend, here 
is a great truth. When health is used up, money used up, 
and sound senses used up, Christianity begins.” 


CCCCXCI. Goon, Goon. Hos.vi. 3. “ Zhen shall we 
know, if we follow on to know the Lord.” 


ARAGO says, in his Autobiography, that his master in 
mathematics was a word or two of advice which he found 
in the binding of one of his text-books. Puzzled and dis- 
couraged by the difficulties he met within his early studies, 
he was almost ready to give over the pursuit. Some words 
which he found on the waste leaf used to stiffen the cover 
of his paper-bound text-book caught his eye and interested 
him. “Impelled,” he says, “ by an indefinable curiosity, I 
dampened the cover of the book and carefully unrolled the 
leaf to see what was on the other side. It proved to be a 
short letter from D’Alembert to a young person disheart- — 
ened like myself by the difficulties of mathematical study, 
and who had written to him for counsel. ‘Go on, sir, go 
on,’ was the counsel which D’Alembert gave him. ‘The 
difficulties you meet will resolve themselves as you advance. ~ 
Proceed, and light will dawn and shine with increasing 
clearness on your path.’ 

“That maxim,” says Arago, “was my greatest master in 
mathematics.” Following out those simple words, “Go on, 
sir, go on,” made him the first astronomical mathematician 
of his age. What Christians it would make of us! what 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 297 


heroes of faith! what sages in holy wisdom should we be- 
' come, just by acting out that maxim, Go on, go on! 


CCCCXCII. Prayers Set Aside with Physic 


Bottles. Hos. vi. 4. ‘* Your goodness is as the morning 
cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.” 


“A COUPLE of men, in a crazy craft, being caught in a squall, 


_ betook themselves, one to praying to the Virgin, and the 
_ other to poling toward the shore. Soon the latter touched 
bottom, and turning to his devout comrade, said: ‘What’s 


the use of praying when you can touch the bottom with 
she pole?’ So say multitudes by their conduct, who would 


not, for the world, say anything so ludicrous by word. The 


orly difference is, that they are not half so truthful in ex- 


_ pressing themselves as bold unbelievers are, but their piety 
is of no higher type. Such persons act towards the Divine 


Helper as they do towards their physician—turn to him 
when they can find no possibility of helping themselves. 
Many have no use for ministers—uniless it may be to ridi!- 
cule them and their work—until they are smitten with 
disease; and when their cases become too desperate for the 
skill of the doctor, they send post-haste for the minister, 
and without reference to either time or convenience, he 
must come. As they have never had any use for him be- 
fore, so much the more necessary that he should be at their 
call now, to pray them up on their feet again. 

“We had occasion to rebuke one of this kind, whose stock 
of wit consisted in low sneers at ministers and their work. 


_Not long after he became very sick. The doctors said he 


would die. He sent for us (‘ because,’ he said, ‘we had 
been faithful in our rebuke,’) to administer to his spiritual 
wants, which could be summed up in one sentence—he did 
not want to burn. He made great promises ; one that he 
would give five hundred dollars to our Church—though he 
did not say so, the inference was clear—if we either got 
nin. well or in heaven. Unaccountable to tell, he got well. 
Our prayers were not so refreshing with returning health. 
They were set aside with the physic bottles. Soon he 
avoided us. He never spoke of the five hundred dollars ; 
he would neither pay nor pray, since he could ‘touch the 
bottom with the pole.” At last we asked him for the 


298 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


meney he had promised the Church. He became ang 
and compromised on one hundred dollars, 

“A father came to a Young Men’s Christian Associati 
in great distress, with a request that prayer should be offer 
for his son, who was lying dangerously ill. It was a su 
prise to learn that the father did not profess to be a Chris 
tian, and great hopes were entertained that he would b 
He came to church several evenings, and his son recovere 
But he has never been heard of since. ‘What is the us 
of praying when you can touch the bottom with the pole 


CCCCXCIII. A Choice of Three Sins. Hos. xiii. 
“And now they sin more and more.” 


THERE is a story which tells of a man who had the choi 
of three sins he would commit—drunkenness, adultery, 
murder. He chose drunkenness as being apparently th 
least ; but when intoxicated he committed both the othe 
sins, and so became guilty of all three. One sin leads 
another, and is like the letting in of water. 


CCCCXCIV. Death a Bed to the Weary. am 
xiii. 14. “J will ransom them from the power of the grave.” 


THE martyr Renwick had a weakly constitution at th 
best, and his incessant labours, aggravated as they wer 
by exposure and sleepless anxiety, ere long wore him ou 
so that even his undaunted spirit was sometimes wrapped 
in gloomy clouds. His letters, as time went on, expressed 
an increasing sense of weariness, but continued to b 
brightened by beams of heavenly faith and hope. 

In 1687 he writes to Sir Robert Hamilton :—* My busi- 
ness was never so weighty, so multiplied, and so ill to be 
guided, to my apprehension, as it has been this year, and 
my body was never so frail. Excessive travel, night wan- 
derings, unseasonable sleep and diet, and frequent preach- 
ing in all seasons of weather, especially in the night, have 
so debilitated me that I am often incapable for any work. 
I find myself sreatly weakened inwardly, so that I some- 
times fall into fits of swooning and fainting. I take seldom 
any meat or drink, but it fights with my stomach; and for 
strong drink I can take almost none of it. When I use 
means for my recovery, I find it some ways effectual ; but 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. |. 295 


my desire to the work, and the necessity and importunity 
of people, prompt me to do more than my natural strength 
will well allow, and to undertake such toilsome business 
as casts my body presently down again. I mention not 
this through any anxiety, quarrelling, or discontent, but to 
show you my condition in this respect. I may say that, 
under all my frailties and distempers, I find great peace 
and sweetness in reflecting upon the occasion thereof. It 
is a part of my glory and joy to bear such infirmities, con- 
tracted through my poor and small labour in my Master’s 
vineyard.” 

No wonder that, when the sentence of death came, it 
raised no perturbation in Renwick’s soul. Life had no 
attraction for him, death had no terror ; the only comforts 
that had sustained his soul for five long years were beams 
of heavenly light sent down into the darkness out of that 
world into which death would immediately introduce him. 
His patient continuance in his overwhelming labours suff- 
ciently declared his willingness to abide in the flesh if such 
were the Master’s will, but we can well believe that he was 
willing rather to depart and to be with Christ. “I go,” he 
wrote to the same correspondent, on the eve of his execu- 
tion, “I GO TO YOUR GOD AND MY GOD. DEATH TO ME 
Is AS A BED TO THE WEARY.” 


CCCCXCV. When does a Tree Grow? Hos. 
xiv. 5. “J will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as 
the lily.” 


A SHORT time ago a gentleman was preaching in the 
open air; his subject was “Growth in Grace.” At the 
close of the meeting a man approached him and said : “Our 
minister has been preaching some excellent sermons on 
that subject, and I have been trying to grow in grace this 
long time, but I find I never can succeed.” The preacher, 
pointing tc a tree, said, “Do you see that tree?” “Yes,” 
was the wondering reply. ‘“ Well, it had to be planted 
before it could grow. In like manner you must be rooted 
and grounded in Christ before you can begin to grow.” 
The man understood his meaning, and went away to find 
Christ ; and soon he was rooted in Christ, and brought 
forth fruit to His praise, 


300 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


CCCCXCVI. Growth. Hos. xiv. 6 “Ais bra 
shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and 
smell as Lebanon.” 


HAVE you ever noticed that the trees nearest the light at 


the edge of the wood have larger branches than those in 
the interior of the forest, and the same tree will throw out 


a long branch toward the light, and a short one toward the» 


obscurity of the forest. Just soa man grows towards the 
light to which he turns. According to the direction in 
which he turns with supreme affection, he grows. 


CCCCXCVII. Critical Times in Life. Joegz iii. 14 
“ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.” 


IT has been well said that in every life there is a turning-— 
point, as in a fever, a turning-point that brings either 


life or death. Napoleon said: “In every battle there are 
ten minutes on which hangs the fate of nations.” Hun- 
dreds of soul’s battles are-fought and won in a few minutes. 
Unspeakably solemn are the silence and quickness with 
which these spiritual battles are fought. 


CCCCXCVIII. Two Rivers. Amosiii.3. “ Can two 


walk together, except they be agreed #” 
THE Rhone, as it issues from the lake of Geneva and 


rushes on its arrowy flight, is the most beautiful of rivers © 


—green as an emerald, yet as clear as clearest glass; sc 
that the pebbles on the bottom, where it is twelve feet 
deep, are as distinctly seen as if they were lying at one’s 
feet. 


The Arve—a river of about the same size, and flowing — 


for some distance nearly parallel with the Rhine and but 


a little way from it—is a dirty stream, carrying with it the — 


wash of the mountains and the mud of the valley. 


About two miles below Geneva these two rivers unite, 


and flow together toward the sea. But, though joined in 
one channel, they are still for several miles almost as 
distinct as when they occupied their separate beds. The 
beautiful Rhone keeps its green clearness on its own side 
of the channel, while the Arve fiows as turbid as ever, from 
the middle to the farther shore. 

So two discordant characters, thrown together by cir- 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 301 


cumstances, often maintain each its own peculiarities ; and 
neither is the wicked sanctified by the just, nor the righteous 
contaminated by the unfortunate association. In many a 
family the godless husband goes his own worldly way, 
while the pious wife lives only nearer the Cross because 
she cannot enter into her husband’s heart. 

But, some miles below the junction, the river rushes into 
a chasm beneath a mountain. When it issues on the farther 
side it is one river—called the Rhone, but in character the 
Arve. The emerald lost, the purity gone, it is just a com- 
mon river after the common pattern—opaque and muddy 
from shore to shore. 

So, often—so, generally—“ evil communications corrupt 


good manners.” 


A few days ago, I went with friends to the junction, to 
see the famous uniting without commingling of waters. 
The rivers were both unusually low within their banks, and 
to our surprise the Arve was very nearly or quite as clear 
as the Rhone. They met and were not to be distinguished 
in their common channel. My friends, who had been 
there very often, assured me that they had never seen it 
so before, that to them it was a phenomenon as strange as 
the ordinary appearance would have been to me. 

Ah! It was not the first time that a muddy character 
has appeared temporarily as clear and fair as the purest. 
Even Satan sometimes appears as an angel of light. It 
will not always do to judge by present appearances. Wait 
until the rains come. “When affliction or persecution 
ariseth, immediately they are offended.” It must bea sad 
character, indeed, which is not amiable when its possesser 
has his own way. And it must be a very bad man who 
cannot conduct himself respectably for a little while,— 
especially if he have his own purpose to serve in so dcing. 
Let those who may be tempted to decide hastily in regard 
to a life-long companionship remember that even the Arve 
is not always muddy. 


CCCCXCIX. Minds like Sieves. Joet iii. 12, 13. 
“ Let the heathen be wakened. Put ye in the sickle, for the 
harvest ts ripe.” 


A SIMPLE Hindoo woman went to receive her weekly 


302 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


Bible lesson, when the lady missionary found that she h 
remembered but little of what she had taught her the w 
before. Being discouraged, she said, “It seems no use 
teaching you anything; you forget all I tell you. Your 
mind is just like a sieve: as fast as I pour water in, it runs 
out again.” : 

The woman looked up at the lady missionary and said, 
“Yes, it is very true; my mind is just like asieve. [ am 
very sorry I forget so much; but then, you know, when 
you pour clean water into a sieve, though it all runs out 
again, yet it makes the sieve clean. I am sorry I have 
forgotten so much of what you told me last week; but 
what you did tell me made my mind clean, and I have 
come again to-day.” 

The missionaries at home and abroad go on pouring 
water into these sieves; and though it runs away and 
seems to be unprofitably spilled upon the ground, yet the 
private, the domestic, the public, and the national life of 
the people is the cleaner for it. . 


D. Honouring the Sabbath. Amos viii. 5. “When 
will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the 
Sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?” 


IN 1633 the town of Taunton had a good Puritan pastor 
in Mr. George Newton. He was the great light of its 
Puritanism, and was Vicar of St. Mary Magdalene. 
Though naturally timid, “strength was made perfect in 
weakness,” and he was not timid in the assertion of his 
principles, and soon became a noted “gospeller.” When 
the “Book of Sports” came out by order of Council, and 
was commanded to be read in all the churches, Mr. Newton 
read it, but said immediately to his congregation, “ These” 
are the commandments of men.” He then read the 
twentieth chapter of the book of Exodus, saying, “ These 
are the commandments of God; but whereas in this case 
the laws of God and the laws of men are at variance, 
choose ye which ye will obey.” Thus he took the side of 
the Sabbath against the profane decrees of the king, 


‘A 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 303 


DI. The Cry from the Depths. Jonanii. 2. “J 
cried by reason of mine affiiction unto the Lord, and He heard 
me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and Thou heardest my 
voice.” 

“You want nothing morethan this cry. If you cry to God 

out of the depths, you will cry yourself out of them. Here 

is a man at the foot of a cliff that rises beetling like a 

_ black wall behind him, the sea in front the clear upright 

_ rock at his back, not a foothold for a mouse between the 


tide at the foot and the grass at the top there. There is 


only one thing he can do. Shout! Perchance somebody 


_ will hear him, and a rope may come dangling down in 


_ front, and, if he has nerve, he may shut his eyes and make 
a jump and catchit. There is no way for you up out of 
the depths but to cry ; and that will bring the rope down.” 


DII. The Celestial Fauna. Micanv.2. “ Zhough 
thou be little among the thousands of Judah.” 


Mr. SPURGEON says: “ You can buy complete sets of all 
the flowers of the Alpine district at the hotel near the foot 
of the Rosenlaui glacier, very neatly pressed and enclosed 
in cases. Some of the flowers are very common, but they 
must be included, or the fauna would not be completely 
represented. The botanist is as careful to see that the 
common ones are there, as he is to note that the rarer 
specimens are not excluded. Our blessed Lord will be 
sure to make a perfect collection of all the flowers of His 
field, and even the ordinary believer, the every-day worker, 
the common convert, will not be forgotten. To Jesus’ eye 
there is beauty in all His plants, and each one is needed to 
perfect the fauna of Paradise. May I be found among 
His flowers, if only as one out of myriad daisies, who with 
sweet simplicity shall look up and wonder at His love for 
ever.” 


DIII. Practical Christian Teaching. Micanvi.8. 
* He hath showed thee, O man, what ts good ; and what doth 
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, 
and to walk humbly with thy God?” 


“Don’T you think our minister soars very high, sir?” was 


304 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


once asked of the great Robert Hall by an admiri 
hearer concerning a minister then residing near Bristol. 
“Soars high, sir!” exclaimed Hall, with his usual veh 
mence. “Not at all, sir! What you call high, sir, is sim 

a foggy atmosphere in which he invariably envelops him- 
self.” 


DIV. A Law Text. Micau vi. 8. “What doth the 
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to wal; 
humbly with thy God?” 


THE following anecdote is told of the Rev. John Brow 
D.D., of Haddington, as illustrating the freedom of his 
pulpit style from any such doctrinal aberrations as ha 
been by some apprehended. A venerable old man ina 
congregation not far from his native place had heard th 
whole Brown family preach through their successive genera 
tions. He went a long day’s journey to hear another of 
the race. Being a great enemy of legal doctrine, he was 
somewhat startled when the text was announced, Thi 
was Micah vi. 8, being, in truth, the subject of one of Mr. 
Brown’s Presbytery exercises, “What doth the Lord re- 
quire of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to 
walk humbly with thy God?” He sat deeply interested 
both in the speaker and in the development of the doc- 
trine ; and when all was ended, burst into tears, which he 
continued shedding for a good while. At length he spoke, 
“If there was a law text in all the Bible, it was that; but 
he has preached the sound gospel, for law doctrine was 
never in his blood.” 


DV. Where is your God? MicauH vii. 8, 9. 
“ Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fail, I shall 
arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto 
me. I wiil bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have 
sinned against Him, until He plead my cause, and executes 
judgment for me.” 


A NONCONFORMIST minister, Mr. Norman, had been con- 
demned to lie in Ilchester gaol for preaching. On his way 
thither the officers stopped to rest at the sheriffs house, 
Lady Warre, the sheriff's wife, came to look at the prisoner, 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 403 


and to insult him with cruel words, saying, “ Where is your 
God now, Mr. Norman?” “Madam,” he replied, “have 
you a Bible inthe house?” “ Yes; we are not so heathenish 
as to be without a Bible.” On getting it into his hands, he 
turned to Micah and read the words, “ Rejoice not against 
me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when £ sit 
in darkness, the Lord shall be a light untome. I will bear 
the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against 
Him, until He plead my cause, and execute judgment for 
me: He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold 
His righteousness, Zhen she that 1s mine enemy shall see 
it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where 
is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now 
shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.’ 
The lady retired silenced, and the dealings of God with 
her family soon made this warning to be noted and 
remembered. 


DVI. A Funeral Sermon. Nauumi.3. “ Zhe Lord 
ts slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit 
the wicked : the Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and in 
the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.” 


MASSILLON, one of the famous divines of France, was called 
to preach the funeral sermon of the departed king. The 
vast cathedral was crowded. The reigning king, the royal 
family, the flower of the French nobility, and the members 
of the chamber were there. The solemn service was in- 
toned. The organ reverberated its awful and impressive 
sound. The incense pervaded the atmosphere. The 
priests retired to their seats. The preacher ascended the 
pulpit. Massillon arose and stood amid that vast assem- 
blage rigid and pale as a statue. A deathlike silence 
reigned as he stood there saying naught. His gleaming 
eye alone indicated self-possession. Solemnly he surveyed 
them all. Now his eye rested on the emblazoned banners 
and drooping ensigns—now on the glittering coronets of 
the nobles—now on the royal family, then on the king, 
until at length he fixed his gaze upon the coffin. Minutes 
passed. Some thought he was struck dumb before that 
august assemblage. At last he slowly raised his hand and 
- UC 


306 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES 


turned his glance upon the king, saying, with infini 
solemnity, “ THERE IS NOTHING GREAT BUT GOD.” 


DVII. Peace on Earth. Nanumiss. “ Behold u 
the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, th 
publisheth peace /” 


“AT the close of the last war with Great Britain,” says 
an American writer, “the prospects of our nation were 
shrouded in gloom. Our harbours were blockaded. Com- 
munication coastwise between our ports was cut off. Our 
immense annual products were mouldering in our ware- 
houses. Our currency was reduced to irredeemable paper. 
Differences of political opinion were embittering the peace 
of many households. No one could predict when the con- 
test would terminate, or discover the means by which it 
could much longer be protracted. It happened that one 
afternoon in February a ship was discovered in the offing, 
which was supposed to be a cartel, bringing home our 
commissioners at Ghent from their unsuccessful mission. 
The sun had set gloomily before any intelligence from the 
vessel had reached the city. Expectation became pain- 
fully intense as the hours of darkness drew on. At length 
a boat reached the wharf, announcing the fact that a treaty 
of peace had been signed, and was waiting for nothing but 
the action of our Government to become a law. The men 
on whose ears these words first fell rushed in breathless 
haste into the city to repeat them to their friends, shouting 
as they ran through the streets, ‘Peace! Peace! Peace!’ 
Every one who heard the sound repeated it. From house 
to house, from street to street, the news spread with elec- 
tric rapidity. The whole city was in commotion. Men 
bearing lighted torches were flying to and fro, shouting, 
‘Peace! Peace! Peace!’ When the rapture had partially 
subsided, one idea occupied every mind. But few men 
slept that night. In groups they were gathered in the 
streets, and by the fireside, beguiling the hours of midnight 
by reminding each other that the agony of war was over, 
and that a worn-out and distracted country was about to 
enter again upon its wonted career of prosperity. Thus, 
every one becoming a herald, the news soon reached every 
man, woman, and child in the city, and filled their hearts 
with joy.” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 307 


DVIII. Vigilance. Has.ii.1. “JZ will stand upon my 
watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what 
He will say unto me.” 


NEARLY two centuries ago about a thousand of the Vau- 
dois, who had taken refuge in Switzerland—all that re- 
mained from the many thousands who, by the cruel decree 
of Louis XIV. of France, had been exterminated—cam: 
to a secret, sworn, and invincible determination to make 
their way through all difficulties, and repossess themselves 
of their homes in the Cottian Alps. Their valour, their 
heroism, their contempt of danger, and the constancy and 
skill with which they met and surmounted all difficulties 
have never been surpassed in the history of any people. 
Opposed by armies of more than ten times their number, 
threading their way over mighty mountains on which lay 
deep snows, along paths in which alone the chamois or the 
Alpine mountaineer could keep a footing, travelling through 
rain and storm, taking no prisoners, but putting to death 
all who fell into their hands, wresting the very weapons 
with which they fought from the hands of their enemies, 
purchasing or conquering their subsistence as they went, 
seizing bridges in the face of foes who greatly outnumbered 
them, changing their route a dozen times, to avoid dangers 
too great to be met without utter annihilation by their 
little beleaguered and travel-worn band, their eyes were at 
last delighted with the sight of the familiar mountain peaks 
that told them they were once more near home. God 
rewarded such constancy and devotion, and brought them 
to their dearly loved homes among the mountains, never- 
more, let us believe, to be thence driven. “Eterna vigil- 
ance is the price of liberty,” and the success that crowned 
their almost superhuman efforts was the reward of a watch- 
Juiness that waited during years of silent preparation, and 
that, once they had started, for six long days and nights, 
gave neither sleep nor slumber to the eyes of their leader. 
Watch ! The grim determination that had possessed them 
as a passion made watching as natural as to’ breathe. 
Relax their vigilance? Not for one moment. Miss one 
golden opportunity for success? Never. Be caught in 
any snare, though in the very midst of powerful, malicious, 
and outnumbering foes? Impossible. “J have a work te 


308 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


do,” said the Saviour, “and how am I straitened till it be 
accomplished!” Such seemed the spirit that animated 
them and compelled them to “watch.” Shall we do less to 
gain our heavenly home? 


DIX. The Castle of St. Andrew. Hap ii. 4 
“ The just shall live by his faith.” 


PREACHING in London on the subject of Faith, the late 

Dr. Guthrie of Edinburgh said: “We were visiting that 
old castle of St. Andrew, out of which Hamilton and 
Wishart, our first Scotch martyrs, came to die for God’s 
truth at the stake. Groping our way along a tortuous 
passage, we descended by some steps into an inner prison, 
and then, by a beam of light that streamed through a ~ 
loophole of the massive wall, we saw an opening in the © 
rocky floor. It looked like a draw-well. Candles lighted 
and let down showed a shaft descending into the bowels of 
the rock, where, widening out like the neck of a bottle, it 
formed a dark, damp, dreary dungeon. A dreadful dun- 
geon. It was called, and fitly called, an oub/zette, or place 
of forgetfulness, because those that black mouth swallowed 
up were ever after lost to life, to light, to liberty and 
friends, as much as they that ‘in the grave forgotten lie.’ 
‘There, said John Knox, speaking of this very place, 
‘many of God's children suffered death, pining away 
slowly, till their life lapped out like'the tide on the shore, 
or was suddenly destroyed by the blow of the assassin.’ 

Such were the bloody days and deeds of popery. As our 
fancy called up these martyrs, the words sprang to our 
memory, ‘ They walked by faith and not by sight.’” 


DX. Deliverance Coming Too Late. Has. ii. 15. 
“ Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink 1” 


THE late William Arnot relates the following story in one 
of his discourses: “A few years ago, a sloop laden with 
coals was beached on the shore of the Solway, near Wig- 
ton, on the Scottish coast, in order that her cargo might be © 
carted away during ebb tide. While the vessel lay high 
and dry on the sand, some men were sent in beneath her 
to effect some necessary repairs. While the work was 
going on, some person outside observed the hull heeling 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 309 


slowly over to one side, and gave the alarm to the work- 
men. All escaped but one. The ship in leaning over 
caught his limbs before he had time to creep out, and 
locked them fast between the hull and sand. The man 
lived and spoke, and took counsel with his neighbours, but 
remained pinioned to the spot. All hands went to work. 
They tried first by lightening the ship of her cargo, but 
this method proved too slow; they tried by digging in 
the sand, but this method also failed; they tried by at- 
taching hawsers to the ship’s mast, and setting a great 
number of men to pull, but their united efforts failed to 
heel her over to the other side. The men were not able 
to liberate their comrade. In their abortive efforts a 
precious hour—/¢fe precious hour, for there was but one— 
had been lost, and now the tide of the Solway came rush- 
- ing in like a racehorse. All that were free fled before it, 
and left their imprisoned companion to his fate. The sea 
soon slackened the grip of the ship’s side, and set the 
captive free; but before it lifted off his burden it had 
quenched his life. The water drowned him, and then let 
him go. Deliverance came too late, and his lifeless body 
was washed up in the surf. 

“Calamities greater in extent frequently occur among our 
seamen, but I do not remember one that was so excruciating 
in its nature, and cut so keenly into the people’s heart. The 
living man saw the tide approaching, but could not get out 
of its way ; felt the water wetting his hair—felt it cold, 
covering his brow, and yet must needs lie still—tay still 
till it stifled him ; and this with the whole town turned out 
on the beach, spectators. I suppose there was no dry eye 
in Wigton during that awful hour. I suppose there were 
few who slept deeply on the following night. It is right 
that man should be shaken in the depths of his being by 
witnessing a brother so miserably perishing. 

“We must not deceive ourselves. We see multitudes 
caught as fast between their own appetites and the fiery 
flood which these appetites feed on—caught and held till a 
tide, mightier than that of the Solway, comes up with its 
awful rescue. They cannot wrench themselves away. It 
is better in such a case to lose a limb, and save the life ; 
but, alas! neither the man who perished in the waters of 
the Solway, nor the men who perish by drink, have 


310 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


strength, even though they had the will, to tear off the 
limb in order to save the life. When physical disease and 
moral depravity clasp and close in upon each other, the 
soul is overlaid and quenched between. Although the 
prisoner were willing to part with the right arm, he cannot: 
get it severed. It holds him till the tide rise, and he dies. 

“With an earnestness equal to that displayed by the 
neighbours at Wigton, and with a skill superior, we might 
save our brother. We could, if we would. By the power 
of love in all the earlier stages, and by the power of Law, | 
if the madness proceed to extremities, the community 
should arise in its might, and rescue the man from him- 
self.” 


DXI. God’s Praise. Habs. iii. 3. “ His glory covered the 
heavens, and the earth was full of His praise.” 


IT is said that once when Sir Michael Costa was having a 
rehearsal with a vast array of performers and hundreds of 
voices, as the mighty chorus rang out with thunder of the — 
organ and roll of drums and ringing horns and cymbals 
clashing, some one man far away up in some corner, who 
played the piccolo, said within himself, “In all this din it 
matters not what I do,” and so he ceased to play. Sud- 
denly the great conductor stopped, flung up his hands, and 
all was still—and then he cried aloud, “ Where zs the 
piccolo?” , The quick ear missed it, and all was spoilt 
because it failed to take its part. O my soul, do thy part 
with all thy might! Little thou mayest be, insignificant 
and hidden, and yet God seeks thy praise. He listens for 
it, and all the music of His great universe is made richer 
and sweeter because I give Him thanks. 


DXII. Seeking Peace for Ten Years. Zzpu. ii. 3. 
“ Seek ye the Lord, all ye meck of the earth.” 


A YOUNG woman in Burmah felt a great wish to learn to 
read, that she might study the sacred books of her country. 
After some trouble she was able to read them, and for ten — 
long years she tried to find in their pages the peace for 
which she longed; but she could not obtain it. One 
day a friend brought her a Christian tract, which pointed 
out the only vay of rest for a sinner. After some time 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 31i 


she heard where the missionary who wrote the tract lived, 
She soon went in search of him, and when she found him, 
she was further taught in the truth of God’s Word. For 
some years she lived as a Christian, and then died in the 
faith. In her last hours she was happy in the thought that 
she should soon meet her pious teachers who had gone 
before her to heaven. “ But first of all,” she said, “I shall 
hasten to where my Saviour sits, and fall down and adore 
Him for His great love in sending me those who could 
lead me in the path to glory.” 


DXIII. A Melancholy Man. Zepu. iii. 16. ‘Jn that 
day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, 
Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst of 
thee is mighty ; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy.” 


LUTHER, at Wittenberg, seeing a very melancholy man, 
said to him: “Ah! human creature, what dost thou? 
Hast thou nothing else in hand but to think of thy sins, on 
death, and damnation? Turn thine eyes quickly away, 
and look hither to this man Christ, of whom it is written : 
“He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin 
Mary, suffered, died, buried, descended into hell, the third 
day arose again from the dead, and ascended up into 
heaven,’ etc. Dost think all this was done to no end? 
Comfort thyself against death and sin; be not afraid, nor 
faint, for thou hast no cause; Christ suffered death for 
thee, and prevailed for thy comfort and defence, and for 
that cause He sits at the right hand of God, His heavenly 
Father, to deliver thee.” 


DXIV. An Arrow Shot ata Venture. Z«cu. ii 4 
“ And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man.” 


ONE Saturday night an earnest minister of Christ studied 
his sermon, as usual, with prayer, but felt oppressed. In 
the morning he said, “I cannot preach this; I do not feel 
the Lord present with me.” His wife said, “ Pray, ‘Get 
thee behind me, Satan.’” He did, but entered the pulpit 
with a heavy heart. Service commenced. The time came 
for the text. He said, “ My friends, I cannot tell what 
oppresses me, but I cannot preach the sermon I have 


312 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


-prepared. Let us pray.” At the close he opened the 


Book at the place Zechariah ii. 4, and read, “ Run, speak 
to this young man,” and he was led to speak with a mighty 
power. He went home still oppressed, unable to account 
for the strange feeling. Years after he went to a meeting 
at a neighbouring parish. A young man sought him, and 
said, “I am astranger to you; you are not to me.” He 
replied, “You are mistaken ; I have not to my knowledge 
ever spoken to you.” “Oh, yes you have, sir. Do you 
not remember preaching some years ago from the words, 
‘Run, speak to this young man’? I am that young man. 
I entered the chapel to annoy you and others, but the 
hand of God arrested me. The arrow sped home, and 
here I am, a living monument of God’s mercy, and a 
minister of that same Gospel.” 


DXV. Satan’s Master Argument. ZEcH. iii. 1. 
“ And Satan standing at his right hand to resist him,” 


JOHN BUNYAN wrote a book entitled, “The Jerusalem 
Sinner Saved ; or, Good News for the Vilest of Men—being 
a Help for Despairing Souls.” In it he thus writes: “It is 
because Christ shows mercy to the vilest that Satan rages 
so strongly; and as he can do nothing with Christ, he assails 
Christ’s people. He holds our hands while the world 
buffets us; he puts bearskins upon us, and then sets the 
dogs at us. He bedaubeth us with his own foam, and 
then tempts us to believe that that bedaubing comes from 
ourselves. Let the tempted think much on Christ’s mercy ; 
for the tempted, wherever he dwells, always thinks himself 
the biggest sinner. This is Satan’s master argument. I 
say this is his maul, his club, his masterpiece; he doth 
with this as some do with their most enchanting songs— 
sing them everywhere.” 


DXVI. Early Prayer Used of God. Zzcu. iii. 2, 
“Is not this a brand plucked from the burning?” 


ABOUT 1812 a very wicked man, a most dreadful drunkard, 
a bad and cruel husband and father, was living in the town 
of Frome, Somerset. One Saturday night, going home at 
midnight, he stumbled into a doorway, a kind of porch, on 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 313 


Catherine Hill, as he was finding his way to his miserable 
home, fell fast asleep, and did not wake till four o’clock on 
the Sabbath morning, when he was aroused by the voice 
of prayer. It was the custom of the good man of the 
house to rise early, and come down to a small parlour 
next the street-door to hold communion with God, that he 
might not disturb the family. The poor drunkard had by 
this time become sober; the good man’s words pierced his 
soul, he was deeply convicted of sin, and at length found 
mercy, and became a wonder to all that knew him. He 
used to be pointed out to me as a miracle of mercy when 
I was young. It was indeed a wonder of grace that the 
man who was the terror of the town should become a 
Christian. Is not this a brand plucked out of the burning? 


DXVII. “Baksheesh.” Zecu.iv.7. “ Grace, grace.” 


A LADY missionary in Armenia was sitting by the bedside 
of a woman who had been a bitter opposer of the Gospel, 
but her heart had now been softened by sickness, and for 
the first time she listened to the good news from heaven. 
As the lady tried to explain to her the only way of salva- 
tion, she answered, “Ah, yes; you, who have done so many 
good works, will be saved; God will not look on me! 

On some texts being quoted, showing that it is all free 
grace, an assistant teacher, Maranos, whispered, “If you 
say ‘ baksheesh,’ she will understand you better.” “ Bak- 
sheesh !”—that common and tiresome word in the mouth 
of every beggar who solicits alms with outstretched hands 
and whining voice—this “ baksheesh” conveyed to that 
untaught mind the meaning of the “grace of God which 
bringeth salvation” in the “ unspeakable gift” of His Son. 


DXVIII. “I’llnot Submit to It.” Zecu. vii. 11, 12. 
“« But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, 
and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they 
made their hearts as an adamant stone.” 


THIs is the conclusion to which E Cc came on her 
death-bed, when the offer of free salvation, for the sake of 
Jesus, was pressed upon her. She was an intelligent young 
woman—had been religiously brought up; and whilst in 


314 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


health she was in all respects dutiful and exemplary. But 


she had not been “born again.” She had never seen that — 
in the sight of God her own goodness was a worthless — 


thing. She had never “submitted herself to the righteous- 
ness of God.” 

The seeds of consumption were in her constitution 
Whilst still young she was laid upon a bed of sickness. 
She became intensely anxious about her eternal state. 
Her minister was sent for. He tried to open up to her 
God’s way of saving sinners, for the sake of Jesus. But 
still her mind continued dark, and her heart unhappy. 
He saw her often, and on each occasion commended Jesus 
to her as a Saviour, and His perfect obedience and death 
in the room of sinners as being all that her case could 
need. 

One day when he called, he found her sitting up in bed, 
supported by pillows, with a look of eager, excited interest 
upon her face. After a few words of salutation, she said, 
“Is this what you mean, sir, as the way of salvation, which 
you have been explaining to me: that Christ’s obedience 
is to gain acceptance for me, as if it had been my own 
obedience: and that all that I have done is to be washed 
away through the sufferings which He endured for sinners 
on the cross?” “Yes,” said the minister; “that is just it: 
accept JESUS, and rely on Him a/one for salvation, and in 
that moment His sufferings will answer to God for ALL 
that you have done—for it is ALL sinful; and His perfect 
obedience will be counted yours. Then God will deal with 
you as if you had never sinned, but had rendered that 
obedience yourself.” “Do you mean,” eagerly asked the 
dying girl, “that 7 may be saved just in the same way 
and on the same terms as the most wicked person in the 
town?” “Yes,” answered the minister; “I just mean 
that.” A look of disappointment and dissatisfaction 
settled upon her countenance. She sat in silence for a 
litile, and then said, very firmly and decidedly, “ Well, 
then, I’ll not submit to it.” Her anxiety vanished from 
that hour. From that day forward she refused to converse 
on the subject of religion. Shortly afterwards she died, 
in settled, resolute indifference. 


! 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 315 


DXIX. The Difficult Duty of Prayer. Zzcu. viii 
21. “And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, 
saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seeh 
the Lord of hosts: I will go also.” 


A CHRISTIAN brother who had fallen into darkness and 
discouragement was staying at the same house with Dr. 
Finney one night. He was lamenting his condition, and 
Dr. Finney, after listening to his narrative, turned to him 
with his peculiar, earnest look, and, with a voice that sent 
a thrill through his soul, said, “ You don’t pray! that is 
what’s the matter with you. Pray—pray four times as 
much as ever you did in your life, and you will come out.” 

He immediately went down to the parlour, and taking a 
Bible he made a serious business of it, stirring up his soul 
to God as did Daniel, and thus he spent the night. It 
was not in vain. As the morning dawned he felt the light 
of the Sun of righteousness shine upon his soul. His 
captivity was broken, and ever since he has felt that the 
greatest difficulty in the way of men’s being emancipated 


from their bondage is that they “don’t pray.” “ Pray 
without ceasing.” “Men ought always to pray, and not 
to faint.” 


DXX. Good Counsel. Zrcu. x. 12. “And I will 
strengthen them in the Lord ; and they shall walk up and down 
in His name, saith the Lord.” 


THE late Duchess of Gordon wrote a letter, a few days 
before her death, to a young girl whom she had befriended, 
giving her good counsel, and she concluded thus: “In our 
weakness His strength is found ; and so long as we think 
ourselves strong in wisdom, purpose, or power, we shall be 
. Sure, sooner or later, to find our wisdom folly, our purpose 
a cobweb, and our power utter helplessness. Therefore my 
best wish for you is that you may cast all your care on 
Him who careth for His people, and as my favourite hymn 
says,— 
Lay down in His strong hand, 
So shall the work be done, 


For who can work so wondrously 
As the Almighty One?’” 


316 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


DXXI. A Shepherd Pastor. Zecu. xi 4 “ Zhus 
saith the Lord my God, Feed the flock.” 


WHEN the Act of Uniformity was passed, in 1662, about 
two thousand ministers took their stations in the ranks of 
Nonconformity ; many, with their families, had to exchange 
a life of competency for a life of toil, some adopting the 
callings of farm-labourers. The lady of a county squire 
was dangerously ill; the clergyman was sent for, but 
returned a message that “he was going out hunting, and 
would come after the hunt was over.” “Sir,” said one of 
the servants to the afflicted husband, “our shepherd can 
pray very well; we have often heard him pray in the 
fields.” The shepherd was immediately summoned to the 
bedside of the sufferer, and prayed with such fervour that 
when he rose from his knees the squire said, “ You must 
tell me who and what you are.” Upon which the shepherd 
told him his story, that he was one of the ministers ejected 
from the Church, and that having nothing left he was now 
content to submit to the honest and painful employment of 
keeping sheep. This man was Peter Luce, of Blagmore 
College, Oxford, and had been noted as a Hebraist in 
better days. 


DXXII. Flowers of Memory. Zzecu. xii 10, “As 
one mourneth for his only son.” 


AN investigator of pedigrees was searching in a midland 
county of England for any traces that might still be found 
of an old family of the district. He went to the records 
of the church, but their name was not there, it had perished. 
He repaired to the supposed site of their ancient hall. 
Not a stone remained to tell its place. Disappointed in 
these attempts, he accosted an aged peasant: “Do you 
know anything of the Findernes ?” Y 

“ Findernes ?” was the reply. “We have no Findernes 
here, but we have Findernes’ flowers.” 

Here was aclue. The old man led the way to a field 
where there were traces of an ancient terrace. 

“There,” said he, pointing to a bank of garden-flowers 
grown wild, “there are Findernes’ flowers, brought by Sir 
Geoffrey from the Holy Land, and, do what we will, they 
will never die,” 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 317 


There are those that can go back, ten, twenty, forty 
years, and recall the time when a child was taken from 
them. It has left no record in the annals of the world: 
no more mark than the shining pebble that is thrown into 
the river, when the waters close over it for ever. Is there, 
then, no trace to be found beneath the heavens of that 
loved one? Go, ask the mother bereaved so long ago. 
There, in the old garden of a heart overgrown with many 
experiences, and shaded with many a sombre spray of ivy 
and many a weeping branch of cyprus, flourish still the old 
memories of that cherished child. His winsome ways, 
his pleasant prattle, his sunny smile, his look of love, are 
all remembered still. These flowers of memory bloom as 
fresh as on the day after the little one was gathered home. 
The snows of winter may have fallen thick upon that 
mother’s head, but touch the old chord, and it will vibrate 
true and “tender as ever. Encourage her to speak upon 
this theme, and she will pour forth her recollections of her 
lost one, and will narrate to you the incidents of his sick- 
ness and his death with a minuteness and detail that will 
astonish any one who has not had or lost a child. We 
lately met a mother whose boy was taken from her more 
than thirty years ago, who told us, as the tear rose to her 
eye, that when she is looking after the affairs of her 
household, she sometimes comes upon his toys, and never 
without a flood of tenderest memories filling her heart. 


DXXIII. The Uses of Affliction. Mau iii. 3. “And 
He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall 
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that 
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” 


WHEN Mr. Cecil went to college, he had much to bear, 
both from severe conflicts in his own mind, and also from 
insulting treatment at the hands of his profligate and un- 
godly companions. Not yet accustomed to the yoke, these 
things troubled him more than they would have done 
afterwards, and he went to walk one day, under their 
influence, very heavy and sad in heart. The Physic Gar- 
dens was the scene which he chose for meditation and 
relief ; and here he observed a very fine pomegranate tree, 
cut almost through the stem, near the root. Struck with 


318 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 


this singular sight, he asked the gardener for an explana- 
tion. “Sir,” said the man, “this tree used to shoot so 
strong, that it bore nothing but leaves. I was therefore 
obliged to cut it in this manner; and when it was almost 
cut through, then it began to bear plenty of fruit.” The 
answer produced adeep impression upon Mr. Cecil’s mind, 
and he went back to his rooms comforted and instructed. 
It was then he received his first lesson in the usefulness of 
trial. 


DXXIV. True Courage. Mat. iii.5. “And J will come 
near to you to judgment ; and I will be a swift witness against 
the sorcerers, and against the adulterers.” 


THE boldness of Latimer in rebuking even the king’s 
majesty himself, for conscience’ sake, is shown ina well- 
known anecdote. At the time of Henry’s neglect of Queen 
Anne Boleyn, and his undisguised preference for Jane 
Seymour, the bishops brought, according to custom, their 
New Year’s gifts to court. “Some,” says the old chronicler, 
“did gratify the king with gold, some with silver, some 
with a purse full of money ; some one thing, some another. 
But Master Latimer, being Bishop of Worcester, then 
among the rest presented a New Testament for his gift, 
with a napkin having this motto upon it, ‘ Fornicatores et 
Adulteres judicabit Dominus’—‘ Whoremongers and adul- 
terers God will judge.’” 


DXXV. ‘I must Give before I can Pray.” Mat 
iii 10. ‘“ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there 
may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith 
the Lord of hosts, if 1 will not open you the windows of heaven, 
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room 
enough to receive it.” 


THE venerable Dr. Sewall, of Maine, once entered a meet- 
ing in behalf of foreign missions just as the collectors of 
the contributions were resuming their seats. The chairman 
of the meeting requested him to lead in prayer. The old 
gentleman stood hesitatingly, as if he had not heard the 
request. It was repeated in a louder voice, but there was 
no response. It was observed, however, that Dr. Sewall 
was fumbling in his pockets, and presently he produced a 


OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES, 319 


piece of money, which he deposited in the contribution 
box. The chairman, thinking he had not been under- 
stood, said loudly, “I didn’t ask you to give, Dr. Sewall, I 
asked you to pray.” “Oh yes,” he replied, “I heard you, 
but J can’t pray till I have given something.” 


DXXVI. The Luxury of Doing Good. Mat. iii 
10. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may 
be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the 
Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, 
and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough 
to receive it.” 


THE language of Malachi iii. 10 is often used in prayer by 
those who are not aware that it is rather a challenge than 
a promise—‘ Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of 
hosts.” We naturally ask whether God does “open the 
windows of heaven and pour down blessing” upon the 
faithful givers of tithes. Instances are not wanting among 
ourselves to supply the answer. No workers in our day 
have enjoyed larger blessing than George Miiller and 
Charles Spurgeon, both of whom have, from the beginning 
of their work, put the sacred rule into practice with believ- 
ing and humble hearts. Years ago Mr. Spurgeon said: “I 
knew a lad in Christ once who adopted the principle of 
giving a tenth to God. When he wona money prize for 
an essay on a religious subject, he felt that he could not 
give less than one-fifth of it. He has never since been able 
to deny himself the pleasure of having a fifth to give. 
God has wonderfully blessed that lad, and increased his 
means and his enjoyment of that luxury of luxuries—the 
luxury of doing good.” 


DXXVII. Days of Proscription and Persecu- 
tion. Mat iii. 16. “ Zhen they that feared the Lord spake 
often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it.” 


IN the memoirs of Hannah More, there is mention made 
of her grandfather, who married into a family zealous for 
Nonconformity. They boarded a minister in their house, 
and at midnight pious worshippers went with stealthy 
steps to hear the words of inspiration from the minister's 
lips, while Mr. More, with a drawn sword, guarded the 


320 OLD TESTAMENT ANECDOTES. 
entrance from violent or profane intrusion. Mrs. More 
was also a pious woman, and used to tell her younger 
relatives, when they complained of the long distance to 
church, that they would have known how to value Gospel 
privileges had they lived, like her, in the days of proscrip- 
tion and persecution. 


DXXVIII. A Poor Highland Woman. Mat iv. 2. 
“ But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteous- 
ness arise with healing in His wings.” 


A PooR Highland woman, unable to read or write, was yet 
a close observer of nature, and noted how the frail petals of 
the flax or lint-bell unfolded in the sunshine and closed 
when his rays were withdrawn. She was very ignorant, 
her one power being to accept and love the blessings of 
God, from the “ inestimable gift” of His Son to that of the 
least flower that bloomed in her path. On application to 
her minister to be admitted to the Lord’s Supper, she 
showed such utter ignorance of the doctrines of the Church, 
that she was deemed totally unfit to become a communi- 
cant. He conveyed this to her as kindly as he could, and 
she replied, “ Aweel, sir, aweel ; but I ken ae thing: as the 
lint-bell opens to the sun, so does my keart to the Lord 
Jesus!” Here was seed of the Lord’s own planting. The 
Second Adam had been busy in this garden dressing it 
and keeping it. 


DXXIX. Our Evidences. Mat iv. 2. “ Zhe Sun of 
righteousness.” 


THE Rev. J. H. Evans, of St. John’s Chapel, London, on 
his deathbed sent a message to his people, that he felt his 
sins and deservings more than ever, but that he stood ac- 
cepted in the Beloved, notwithstanding all. “In Jesus I 
stand; Jesus isa panacea.” He used to say, “When we 
look for our evidences, they hide their heads like lilies of 
the valley, and we are distressed because we cannot find 
them ; but if we look at Christ, the sun arises and they 
spring up afresh,” 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


Aaron’s Rod, 32. 

Able to Deliver, 289. 

Acorn Shells, 177. 

Affection, A Son’s, 16, 

Affliction, The Day of, 223. 

Affliction, The Furnace of, 246. 

Affliction, The Mellowing Power 
of, 148. 

Affliction, The Uses of, 317. 

Animals, Cruelty to, 105. 

Animals, Kindness to, 181. 

Answer, A Soft, 183. 

Arrow Shot at a Venture, An, 


311. 
Atmosphere, A Malarial, 224. 
Atonement, Belief in the, 255. 
Attempting Great Things 
God, 255. 
Awakening, An, 295. 


for 


 Baksheesh,” 313. 

Balaam’s Ass, 202. 

Bargains, Three Bad, 12. 

Barren Tree, A, 269. 

Bed, An Hour or two sooner to, 


132. 
Beggar, A Pulpit, 165. 
Begin at the Beginning, 237. 
Benevolence, No Deaths from, 


179. 
Besieged Town, A, 143. 
Beware of the Ivy Green, 225. 
Bible, A Soldier’s, 222. 
Bible in Iceland, The, 70. 
Bible in the Heart, Hiding the, 


146. 
Bible, Penalty of Reading the, 


75: 
Bible, Ruskin’s, 42. 
Bible, The Power of a Living, 287. 


331 


Bible, The Robber’s, 196, 

Bishop, An Irish, 163. 

Bishop’s Veneration for White 
field, A, 187. 

Bitter Cup, A, 256. 

Black, Cold, Hard, 278. 

Blessing, Times of, 244. 

Blocking up the Broad Way, 


253. 

Body, An Emaciated, 21. 

Books, A Chain of Precious, 252. 

Books, The Most Unfashionable 
of all, 46. 

Born So, I was, 279. P 

Boyhood, A Christian, 13. 

Boys’ Temptations, 172. 

Bruised Reed, A, 241. 

Building up in their most holy 
Faith, 32. 

Burdens, 106. 

Burning with Pure Oil, 23. 


Called of God, 46. 

Calvin’s Motto, 200, 

Captive Set Free, The, 78. 

Captives, 264. 

Card-playing, 72. 

Castle of St. Andrew, The, 308. 

Cathedral, The Plan of Stras- 
burg, 22. 

Cattle on a Thousand Hills, The, 
115. 

Caught by Guile, 117. 

Chariot of Fire, The, 60. 

Charity, The Duty of, 30. 

Child, A Drunkard’s, 199. 

Child, Knowing the Scriptures 
from a, 195. 

Child, Story of a Jerusalem, 239, 

Children in Prison, 257. 


Y 


322 


INDEX. 


Children, Three Lessons for, 168. 

Children’s Help, 194. 

Christ Covering the Sinner, 265. 

Christ, Near the Fire, Near, 289. 

Christ Not Needed, 268. 

Christ our Rest-Stone, 26. 

Christ, Seeing No Beauty in, 227. 

Christian Forbearance, 190. 

Christian Life, Some Rules for 
the, 27. 

Christian Pastor, An Ideal, 3. 

Christian Philosopher, A, 82. 

Christianized, but Humanized, 
Not, 86. 

Christian’s Portion, The, 88. 

Christians, Seeking the Society 
of, 202. 

Christ’s Everlasting Kingdom, 


104. 

Christ’s Kingdom is Growing, 
262. 

Church, A Distressed, 161. 

Closing Words, 97. 

Colour-Blind, 80. 

Columba and his Ministry, 270. 

Comfort, A Psalm of, 94. 

Comforted of God, 256. 

Communion Sunday, 93. 

Concentration of Heart, 273 

Conscience a Gnawing Worm, 77. 

Conscience, Reverencing, 219. 

Conscience, The, 230. 

Contrast, A, 171. 

Conversion of Count de Gasparin, 
The, 112. 

Convert, An African, 45. 

Converted, How John Williams 
was, 32. 

Counsel, Good, 315. 

Courage in Helping the Wrong 
Doer, 214. 

Courage, True, 318. 

Courtier and the Christian, The, 
210. 

Covenant Sign, The, 8. 

Cevenanters, The, 127. 

Cruelty to Animals, 105. 

Cry from the Depths, The, 303. 

Cursing, 22. 


Dairyman’s Daughter, The, 165. 


Dancing for Joy, 265. 

Danger, Unconscious, 166, 

Deadness of Heart, 137. 

Death a Bed to the Weary, 298. 

Death, A Child’s, 53. 

Death, A Sudden, 156. 

Death, Brought Back from the 
Gates of, 107. 

Death of Children, 55 

Death Overcome, Fear of, 163. 

Death, Signs of, 146. 

Death Song, A, 242. 

Death, The Reconciliation, 113. 

Death, The Ways of, 190. 

Deaths from Benevolence, No, 
179. 

Decision, A Wise, 205. 

Decision of a Moment, The, 147. 

Deliverance Coming Too Late, 


308. 
Deliverance from Evil, 130. 
Despondence, A Remedy against, 


19. 
Detection of Sin is Certain, The, 


36. 
Devil’s Letters, The, 6. 
Devoutness of Spirit, 45. 
De Witt, The Brothers, 130. 
Diary, A Good Man’s, 168. 
Die is Gain, To, 242. 
Die Manfully, How to, 212. 
Dissatisfied with Myself, r5o. 
Distress, Succour Men in, 40. 
Do it Well, 213. 
Door, The Shut, 6. 
Doors, Beautiful, 12, 
Dream, A Singular, 73. 
Drink, Erring through Strong, 
234. 
Drink, Strong, 234. 
Drowned, Almost, 154. 
Duke’s Example, A, 109. 
Dumb Bell, The, 283. 
Dying, Joy and Peace in, 259. 
Dying, The Bliss of, 35. 
Dying Words of an Unbeliever 
6. 


76. 
Dynamite, 178. 


Early Riser, An, 61. 
Early Years of Wickedness, 104 


INDEX. 


323 


Ears, The Use of Wool in the, | Give all you Can, 12. 


106. 

Earth’s Dark Places, 128. 

Educated Eyes, 104. 

Egyptian Animal Worship, 18. 

Emperor's Shame, An, 51. 

Enemy Turned into a Friend, 
An, 188. 

Entering the Vineyard at the 
Eleventh Hour, 213. 

Entreating Sinners to Come to 
Jesus, 267. 

Epitaph, A Quaint, 7. 

Escape, A Providential, 167. 

Eternity and Where it is to be 
Spent, 17. 

Eternity, The Light of, 294. 

Evangelist, An, 201. 

Evidences, Our, 320. 

Exemplary Lady, An, 119. 

Extremity, In the Hour of, 56. 

Eye Inward, One, 106. 

Eye, The Painted, 183. 

Eyes, Educated, 104. 


Faith, Wild, 92. 

Family Worship, 218. 

Far Country, In the, 169. 

Farewell, A Last, 187. 

Farewell Scene, A, 42. 

Father, A Wise, 182. 

Father, I have called Thee, 132. 

Fatherland, The Divine, 232. 

Fauna, The Celestial, 303. 

Fear Not, 243. 

Fear of Death Overcome, 163. 

Flock, Among the, 284. 

Flowers of Memory, 316. 

Found Off Guard, 69. 

Fox and his False Accusers, 
George, 194. 

Fulfilling his Mission, 54. 

Furnace, In the, 289. 

Funeral ‘Sermon, A, 305. 

Funeral Sermon, Hearing your, 
281. 


Gathering Flowers to Compose in 
__ the Hour of Death, 4. 
Gift which Blindeth the Wise, A, 
22. 


Give before I can Pray, I Must, 
318. 

Giving a Tenth to the Lord, 169. 

Gladsome Mind, Let us with a, 


160. 
Glory, Delusiveness of Earthly, 


72. 
Go on, Go on, 296. 
God, A Personal, 296 
God, and a Little God, A Great, 


260. 

God does not Forget His Saints, 
102. 

God, Early and Late with, 225. 

God, Exalting, 232. 

God Fulfilling His Threatenings, 
276. 

God Here? Is, 231. 

God? Is there no, 87. 

God Makes no Mistakes, to, 

God Seen in His Works, 89. 

God the Father Almighty, 132. 

God, The Handwriting of, 268. 

God, The Power and Comfort of, 1. 

God Unwilling to Afflict, 275. 

God? Where is your, 304. 

God’s Anger Consistent with His 
Love, 83. 

God’s Constant and Personal Su- 
pervision of His People, 265. 

God’s Hands, In, 162. 

God’s Infinity, 240. 

God’s Mercies to the Worst of 
Repenting Sinners, 71. 

God’s Power to Save, 261. 

God’s Praise, 310. 

God’s Readiness to Hear and 
Answer Prayer, 103. 

God’s Searching, 235. 

Going where oy Problems will be 
Solved, 7 

Good Man a fe Olden Time, A, 
164. 

Good, The Luxury of Doing, 319. 

Good Turned to Evil, 37. 

Grace should Permeate tke En- 
tire Man, 141. 

Grace, The Pithiest, 71. 

Grasp, The Fatal, 173. 

Grave, The, 223. 


324 INDEX. 


Greedy of Gain, 186. 
Groaning but not Grumbling, 282. 
Growth, 300. 


Hand, The Helping, 200. 

Hands, In God’s, 162. 

Happiness of doing Good, 91. 

Hasty Temper, A, 211. 

Haus-Segen, The, 39. 

Heariag, not Reading, 258. 

Heart of Unbelief, The Evil, 279. 

Heathen Convert and his Bible, 
A, 149. 

Heathen Honesty, 61. 

Heathen, The Conversion of the, 


61. 

Heathen’s Reply to the Jesuit, 
A, 19. 

Heaven, A Message from, 95. 

Heaven be? What must, 267. 

Heaven, The Arithmetic of, 38. 

Heavenwards, 134. 

Hell peoples Heaven, The Fear 
of, 236. 

Henry, Philip, 156. 

Hidden and Safe, 133. 

Highway, The Forest-Guarded, 
280 


Home, Nearly, 223. 

Home, Sweet Home, 151. 

Homesick Mount, The, 16. 

Honesty of the Huguenots, 28. 

Honour, Worldly, 210. 

Hopefulness, Duty of, 111. 

Horse, The Pale, 144. 

Hour, Our Last, 233. 

Huguenots, The Persecution of 
the, 17. 

Human Thought and Heavenly 
Light, 288. 

Humility, 66. 

Huntsman, The Wild, 172. 

Hymn, A, 1009. 

Hymn, Charlotte Elliot’s, 283, 

Hymn, Dr. Ryland and his, 78. 

Hymn, The Power of a, 217. 


I'll not Submit to It, 313. 

Impatience, 183. 

Infidel and a Little Girl who 
was Sorry for Him, An, 85. 


Infidel and the Missionary, The, 
248. 

Innovation, An, 290. 

Intellect and the Heart, Th 

Intercessor, The Weeping 268. 

Israel, Restoration of, 273. : 


Japanese Convert, A, 150. 

Jesus, Like, 125. 

Jesus Opposers, 281. 

Jesus? What shall we Give to, 


249. 
Journey is too Great for Thee, 
The, 57. 


Kind Tone of Voice, A, 190. 

Kindness to Animals, 181. 

Knowledge, Jargon without, 235. 

Knowledge of the Bible, Daniel 
Webster's, 84. 


Labour and Sorrow, 209. 

Lambs in His Arms, The, 239. 

Lament, A Fathers, 53. 

Language, One, 8. 

Last Hour, The, 229. 

Last Hours of Darnley, The, 118. 

Legend of St. Marguerite, The, 
22K 

Leprosy, 26. 

Lessons for Children, Three, 166. 

Liberality, Duty of, 4o. 

Libertyto the Captives of Sin,250. 

Life, A Successful, 176. 

Life, Critical Times in, 300. 

Life, Some to Everlasting, 294. 

Life, The Close of, 259. 

Light, 228. 

Light, Gone into the World of, 


264. 
Light in the World, 262. 
Lips, Watching the, 162. 
Living in the Lives of Others, 


229. 
Loan to the Lord, A, 193. 
Lord’s Prayer of the Old Testa- 
ment, The, 123. 
Loving God, 38. 
Loyalty, 238. 


INDEX. 325 


Magnanimity, 9. 


Martyr for Christ, A, 140. 
‘Martyr of the Netherlands, A, 96. 
age Legacy to his Children, 


89. 

Martyrs, The Wigtown, 93. 
Meditation, 107. 
Melancholy Man, A, 311. 
Melancholy, Resistance to, 219. 
Memory, Lapse of, 95. 
Merchant Prince, A, 87. 
Mercies, Daily Insensibility to, 

276 


79. 
Migrate, About to, 147. 
Minds like Sieves, 301. 
Minister, A French, 60. 
Missionary, A Moravian, 43. 
Missionary of the Seventh Cen- 
tury, A, 120. 
Money, Accumulation of, 105. 
More Light, Lord, 68. 
Morning Song of the Christian 
Church, The, 122. 
Moses’ Argument, 25. 
Mother, Value of a Christian, 206. 
Mic. A, 12 
Motto, A Bishop’s, 228. 
Music, The Soothing Power of, 


50. 
My Ministry, Ze 


Name, The Sweetest, 54. 
Neptune’s Cup, 136. 

Nero, 270. 

Newton and Jay, 253. 
Ninety-and-Nine, The, 275. 
No Fear, No Hope, 52. 
Noah’s Prayer, 7. 

Noise, A Mighty, 282. 


Ochre Spring, The, 174. 
Offering, A Small, 179. 
Old Age, 141. 


Parable, An Old Hebrew, 117. 
Parents, A Question for, 39. 
Parents, Ingratitude to, 206. 


Parents, One who Delighted te 
Honour his, 200. 

Passover, The, 19. 

Pastor, A Shepherd, 316. 

Patriot, A, 143. 

Peace on Earth, 306 

Peacemaker, A, 151. 

People, God's Care of His, 295. 

Persecution, 148. 

Persecution, Days & Proscription 
and, 319. 

Perseverance, 213. 

Pilgrim Fathers, The, 138. 

Pilot is on Board, The Great, 17 

Pious Son, A, 176. 

Playing Cards, 57 57: 

Pliny’s Myrtle and Christ’s Cross, 
273- 

Pockets, Look to Your, 20. 

Praising God, 103. 

Pray, Never be too Tired to, 131. 

Prayer, A Man of, 49. 

Prayer, God’s Readiness to Hear 
and Answer, 103. 

Prayer, Importunate, 75. 

Prayer, The Difficult Duty of, 


315. 
Prayer, The Habit of, 51. 
Prayer, The Patience of Un- 
answered, 65. 
Prayer, Touching God in, 293. 
Prayer Used of God, Early, 312 
Prayer, Washington at, 68. 
Prayers set Aside with Physic 
Bottles, 297. 
Praying and Working, 62. 
Praying First, 15. 
Praying for What we Do not Ex- 
pect, 81. 
Praying Light-Keeper, The, 241. 
Preacher, An Eloquent, 209. 
Preaching and Praying, 186. 
Preaching, Christmas Evans on, 


277. 
Prophecy Fulfilled, A, 135. 
Protection from Evil, 11. 
Providence, Interposition of, 153. 
Psalm, A Patriotic, 160. 
Psalm, A Pauline, 116. 
Psalm Beloved by Luther, A, 157 
Psalm, Durie’s, 152. 


326 


Psalm, My, 124. 

Psalm of Catherine de Medici, 
A Chosen, 157. 

Psalm of St. Augustine, The 
Favourite, 99. 

Psalm, The 119th, 146. 

Psalms, A Lover of the, 142. 

Public Worship, Tnvial Hin- 
drances keeping back from, 


a1. 
Pulpit Beggar, A, 165. 
Pulpit Reflectors, 147. 
Purity of Character, 174. 


Quaker Tailor, A, 276. 
Quenching the Spirit, 5. 


Rahab, 43. 

Railway Carriage, A Word in a, 
185. 

Ready to Go, 35. 

Rebuke, A Seasonable, 272. 

Rebuking a King, 199. 

Refreshing, A Word of, 126. 

Religion, A Stepping-stone to 
Worldly Success, 128. 

Religion a Thing for Every Day, 


293. 
Religious Work, Impure Motives 


in, 49. 
Remember Thee, I will, 234. 
Resignation, 74. 
Resignation to God’s Will, 73. 
Resignation to God’s Will, A 
Noble, 48. 
Results arein God’s Hands, 34. 
Retribution, 224. 
Riches, The Best Way to get, 
64. 
River, Beyond the, 237. 
Rivers, Two, 300. 
Root, The, 286. 
Root, The Worm at the, 215. 
Rooted, Not till they are, 245. 
Ruler, Don’t use a Crooked, 146. 
Running from Sin, 171. 


Sabbath Desecration, 24. 
Sabbath Holy, Keeping the, 261. 
Sabbath, Honouring the, 302. 


INDEX. 


Sabbath Keeping, An Arctic Ex- 
plorer and, 260. 

Sabbath School Instruction, 195. 

Sh The Profanation of the, 


Sucaedl Silence, 64. 
Saint, An Early, 100, 
Saint, A Medizval, 124. 


Saints, God does not Forget His, © 


102. 

Sanctify My Name, 236. 
Sanctuary, Reverencing the, 31. 
Sanctuary, The Lord a, 134. 
Satan’s Master Argument, 312. 
Saved an a Newspaper Scrap, 


21 
Saviour, Need of a, 245. 
Scaffold, A Servant Girl at the, 


129. 
Scottish Reformation,A Favourite 
Song of the, 156. 
Scripture Texts, 39. 
Scriptures, The Fulness of the, 
148. 


Secutings Can you Trust the, 


193. 
Seed-Corn, 59. 


| 


Seeking Peace for Ten Years, — 


310 
Seeking the Lord earnestly, 65. 
Sermon, An Extempore, 98. 
Service’ Must Have Soul in it, 


True, 9. 

Ships and the Great Sea, The 
Little, 145. 

Sick Rooms, III. 

Sick, Suggestions to the, 292. 

Silence, 136. 

Sin against God, 120, 

Sin Blotted Out, 244. 

Sin, Conspicuous for Exceeding 
220, 

Sin Crouching at the Door, 1. 

Sin Ready to Enter, 1. 

Sin, Running from, 17%. 

Sin, The Certain Detection of, 36 

Sin, The Corruption of, 267. 

Sinning against Light, 243. 

Sins, A Choice of Three, 298. 

Sins, Not slavishly Afraid of his 
19. 


INDEX. 


337 


Slothful Habits, 192. 

Slow to Wrath, 182. 

Social Intercourse, 67. 

Soldier of Jesus Christ, A, 44. 

Solid Happiness, 35. 

Son, A Pious, 176. 

Song of Battles, The, 123. 

Song of Christian Assemblies, A, 
159. 

Song, The Evening, 162. 

Song, The Lord’s, 161. 

Sorrow, Blessing the Lord in the 
Depth of, 140. 

Soul Murder, 59. 

Soul, The Worth and Beauty of 
a, 112. 

Souls, How to Win, 180. 

Speaking Leaves, 9o. 

Spring, The Ochre, 174. 

Stand Still, 56. 

Storm at Sea, A, 274. 

Stranger within thy Gates, The, 


37. 
Subject neither Studied nor 
Understood, A, 270. 
Subjection of the Will, 109. 
Success, The Secret of a 
Preacher’s, 110. 
Successful Life, A, 176. 
Suffering, Made Perfect through, 
127. 
Sun-dials, 63. 
Surety, A, 149. 
Surveillance, Unconscious, Io. 
Swear ? Who taught you to, 20. 
Swearing, 20. 


Talent without Sanctity, 23. 
Talents, Notwithstanding his, 


126. 
Te Deum of the Old Testament, 
The, 164. 
‘Yeachers and Parents, For, 200, 
Teaching, Practical Christian, 


303. 
Telegram in America, The First, 


36. 

Tempest, The Covert from the, 
236. 

Temptations, Boys’, 172. 

Tenth of All, A, 13. 


Text, A Law, 304. 

Thanksgiving, A Song of, 94. 

Three Links, 254. 

Time Enough, 247. 

Timely Succour, 145. 

Tomb Forgets No One, The, 76. 

Tombstone, An Inscription of a. 
264. 

Tongue, The, 103. 

Tongues, The Confusion of, 8. 

Transferring of Sins, 27. 

Tree Grow? When does a, 299. 

Tree, The Traveller’s, 92. 

Tried before Trusted, 54. 

Tried, It has been, 88. 

Trouble, My, 52. 

Troubles, 15. 

True Nobility, 63. 

Trust Not in Vain, 203. 

Trust the Promises, 258. 

Truthfulness, 25. 


Undone, 2. 


Venture on Him, 41. 
Vigilance, 307. 
Voice, A Kind Tone of, 190. 


Waiting upon God, 177. 
Wanderings, My, 119. 

Watching the Lips, 162. 

Ways of Death, The, 190. 

What Next? 114. 

Wheat and the Chaff, The, 79. 
Widow and the Sovereign, The, 


179. 
Widow’s Son, The, 66. 
Wife, A Devoted, 208. 
Wife is from the Lord, A Good, 


I9I. 
Will, Subjection of the, 109. 
Wine-Making, The Process of, 

274. 

Wisdom, True, 77. 
Woman, A Poor Highland, 320. 
Women, One of the Virtuous, 

208, 

Word in a Railway Carriage, A, 
8 


185. 
Word in Season, A, 185. 


328 INDEX. 


Word of God, Growing Love for | Wrath, Slow to, 182. 
the, 67. 
Work of God, Helping on the, 13. | Young Man Void of Understand- 


Work of God, The Noblest, 21. ing, A, 175. 
Worth and Beauty ofa Soul, The, | Young, Moral Training of the, 
512 4L 


GENESIS. 


INDEX OF TEXTS. 


PAGE 

i. 1 eee eee eee I 
RU Gitescil ose ese I, (2 
iv. 10 eee ivaes 2 
TAAL coe! sendy 35.4. 
Wiese]! ses nee 5 
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viii. 9 Ae 7 
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1x. IS Peet Kans 8 
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POVING as cae. See 9 
xill. 9 Reease 9 
PUEES: 6 se see FO 
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EEMAIGA te can E2 
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226... <.F2, 13 
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xiv. I, 2 


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iii. 33 moh cee 
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XV111. 33 ese eee 
XXL. 3 anehiacs 
99 ST ee ee 


330 INDEX OF TEXTS. 


1 KINGS. 


ss PAGE | i XXxvil, Bk ies 
xiii. 8, 9 XXXVIIL. 4 eee 
XIV. 17 sen eee 9 3.0 
RVIOU Uiceehe Sour XXXIX. 30 oe 

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ADAG Ob ceel Waa <KXIV, 18) oc. BLE Sivas tee 
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IV. 34 eee coe L pie ees 
v1. 15... 13 eee 
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XX. a eae S see eee 
Py Ms a Sidsapeens 

Vil. 4 see 


Ix. 412 igee 
Ixili. I-1T... 
Ixvii. I-7 ... 
Ixviii. 1-35 
Ixix. I 

Ixxi. I-24... 
xxi A ices 
Ixxill. I ose 


1 CHRONICLES. 
vi. 49... 
> 9) OO (oe ee 

2 CHRONICLES. 


i. 10 eee eee eee 
VE AOsae cee \ rae 


XV. 15 eee eee ” 22 eee 
XX) (27 coe ee xxiv. 10). sce 
AKRIVD TS ee 9p TO ae 
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EZRA. Ixxxlli. 3.00 

Vi, 22... ses vee 67 | xxvi. 8 ve 94 | Lxxxiv. 4-12 


Vii. Osc se we G7 [xxvii I-14, 94 | Doxxvie 7 ose 


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Xxx. § sce eee =: 5) | Dv eees 


NEHEMIAH. mak °. see ose = oie sls 
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1 Giicican, eae ae Xxxi Da cael vase 98 xci. I eee 
We Gove wee cee OD! xxxii, I-11 sue G00) 


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Jos. XXXVii. 16... see 105 | Ci, Tne 
: tT eos see eee 72 n 26 eee oor 105 ” 5 eee 


140, 


14¢ 
141 
141 


* INDEX OF TEXTS. 332 


4 Pace | | PAGE ECCLESIASTES. 
GAMA) | kee ane P42 hv. 14 pen ueeen ALOO PAGE 


Cv. 26 eoe ooe 143 ” 15 coo ceo 17! it 2 eee ceo 209, 210 
cvii. I Becca WEA gale eae nes) LFA Sy eS ees AA ie Mes) 
DMEM aoe F441 5 27.) onnl/ ame) LZZP VIE Q nwa’ nee oan, | SET 
2G en wee FAS | V. 22 cu ose nee IZZ| VU IZ ees vee (ZZ 
eeragiiiecd) as) 245) Vi. 15 Bee Feaet RIP u IRA csc fl eee ES 
ER eae cast L40)|| 5, 27, 28 evel) cee TTA 55, LO von) ang) 2a 
Meany iewat) TAO. VA Bis). Con! eee NZQA gp TE seg) eae) 2E5 
Wan ces (STACI 58 J ea) fave! voce) E75) || Xie Tees’) eee, 2LO, 217 
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TAM ene TAZ I XA7 | cael ne') coe. LZO Way 17) sea! east) owes (29 
9» 59 vee vee 147 Jy) 4 cee ne wee 177] 9 9 vee 219, 220, 222 
Sa iiccal Une 140) xi. 1S Reel Graal Note femme Manet esse neers) 
ba PAW TCAGH SN Sisesililiseeit ies sh nee 
BRO g ens) 48, FAQ|), 24 \\ oss FFQ, TSO) gp 14, ase one, 22H 


p22) ans 149] 5 30 we ae 180 
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CXX. 7 SSeS LOR STE 9 AAA dy! (70472 linc 
ee ree cid TSU aay. 29. FB, 832 et “tt Use 2s 
CXXiV. 1-8 eon 152 XV. rh eee ove eee 183 pay iGu es ii Be 
is 2 ANS i 153 ue 3 A ae 183 . eco eee 5 


186 | Vis TOsee eee eee 228 


CREME Ceeh devel L508 |i) 54) ZOulviendinr veal) LOO 
Seems PEON) 5c 330.) esa’ sac TSP ISAIAH. 
PUNT R ieee ees. X50! XVI. 7 see's LOZy FOO ocg An 
CXXX. 1. nee cee 57] 57 24 nee nee QOH TT cee ace wee 229 
GRIME eae) jes | E59] 59, 25). see) wee) FOO Vi. 8 sic) eee eee, | 229 
RMBs nace Ny KODI 55.) 32110) e5a)))/ ace GO| Vill, 20 0) eee esa p AO 
CXXXVIE) <2. we. © L603) xix. 4 post ese( LOUIIXIOO) Voceulven Ni oot 
” 3,4 eco 161 ” 15 eee eee 192 | xxv, I eve «eee §=— 232 
as Aicroi ties LOM os Lig ccs XOS5 LOAN on. 8 sneinesne oe 
CXXXIX. 12 sos LOZ RXV LE ese cee 194] xxvi. 3 - 
EXD iisse see | LG2i|)5,, 22 Deh iysten ey ALO AUIS) oN ec en lenaaaneD Seg 
e503 seatll lece ) XO2)|(XXIl-, Oy) 1) TOS, TOG 1O7. XXVII1. 7 see eee 234 

exliii. aust esa KOS 198 I 
exliv. Bey ese My AOR) REE vessvinscasue TOO! xxi ESN cou enna 
HAN Hicee) i) taveil MOM.) | KUM QE) wees Voss LOOM Mn. BQun sel Ne hase 
13 eae eee 164 ” 24, 25 coe 200 | xxx. 33 eco eve 236 


PSC (nrcall 235 0s. YB E, TBGI yO te) (rte trea 


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Gee S lesa) | sex) (LOG) || XXIVs TON joc) oes)))/' ZOO) |XX ET lose Newer 
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PES ese ene), LOO | XXVIN25 och) bell SOS NTO cent sei eA 
Eee ated csi) eve LOO! | XXX: OO) oy ens 1205, XIII. 2) | ices 2a ey 24S 
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99 20 vee ose eee 168 XXX1. I vee eae 206 xliv. 3 ooo eee 244 
eh peal esos) LOOM tgp) PEL Wee OS iin ae eNews mala 


332 


INDEX OF TEXTS. 


. 


LAMENTATIONS. 
xlv. 27, 22... 245 | PAGE 
XIVilL, TO! .<< 245; 246 | iii. 33 eso ese «6275 
ans Wie eee ZAP) 55°22 eos. wes ae 
RAED 248 |v. 18.. 276 
xlix. 16 249 
9.2 won EZEKIEL. 
WA vies 252]. 
a ae ak 253/13 ve one 276 
yy 10s. 253 | lil. 17 xo) ae 
lili. 1.. 254 | Xl. 19 278, 279 
AY 6.4 255 | XViil. 4 280 
liv. 2,3 ss. ss. 255 | XXii. 29 281 
ae «wee 256| XXIV. 17 281 
a IT woe coe 256 | XXVE- 13 ace 282 
yy 13 eae wee 257 | XXX 24 ere ove 282 
Ve 3 see cee cee 258 | XXXlL 22 2. 283 
99, 12 ave seam250 » 32. 283 
Ivii. 15 « 259, 260 | XXXlv. 12 . 284 
lili, 13. 44. 200,261} 9, 29 exe wee 286 
Tix, Pete cee vee 261 | XXXVL 27 oe 287 
Waaek ccc level tensa 2OZ 
Hy Oenn cos mance 2187 DANIEL. 
” peer aa ie e I: 22 ce 288 
” see eee ee 91 
Ren. Vales, abel Ue ie 
ae) atta ate) S2OGI ei = e; 290 
[XU LZ) eceds eae 205 : oe at) ee 290 
lxv. 17 eee eee 267 iv. 35 aaa dee ae 
vi. 10 ies 
JEREMIAH 5120 re cos 8S 
vi. 14 ve ane, 267 | Xlle Zee eee 294, 295 
Seelo cesanth eel 20g 
Kopl2iccs) Yecsidecsu 205 HOSEA. 
xii. 5 wel) \aea ZOO! | (=e 
Gy sao. ach] eee ee 
xv. 15 wee eee 269) V5 : ape rr Be: 
ay LO, Agtedwuleccon2 sO ur ee ces = 297 
XVILQ see one 270) ig, 298 
XXiil. 4 eee ee 270 ore 14 ee "s 298 
XXVI. 3 nee wee 272] 5 eae 299 
XXLX. 13 ath be 273 . 6. eee ee a 
SEX. U7 eat hen PRS ie oe See 
XXX11. 37 eee eee 273 
KIVUll UK) ace eer. JOEL. 
KK 23's cue) teak QTANML AS, UGiecn ena OX 
L6 eco eco 8=— ene 275 ” Tice coe see 300 


Amos. 

‘i PAGE 
HL. 3 wee cee cee 300 
viii. 5 ves.) sent SOS 

JONAH. 
Hota) 3 eve 303 
MICAH. 
V. 2 ss. wi (S09 
Vi. 8 ... se. 303, 304 
vii. 8-10 ines p a4 
NAHUM. 

L 9) isco era ees 
” 15 . see eee 306 
HABAKKUK. 

ii. I eee eee eee 307 
oy 4: woe?) apeelienaneegee 
nm U5 oe vee ove 308 
Ill. 3 see cee see 309 
ZEPHANIAH. 

ii. 3 ore eee eee 309 
iii, 16 exe), -osap aga 
ZECHARIAH. 

ii. 4 . eee eee 311 
iii. I eee eee 312 
» 2 eee eee eee 312 
iv. 7. oc, dae ae 
Vil. 1X, U2ice | onan 
Vili, 2F seeeeyats 
x. 12 eee oe 315 
XE, 4 viet ent eee 
XL 10: 25 eeaegro 
MALACHI. 

HL. 3 ace) cue, pease SEZ 
” 5 Pd ere eee 318 
np 10 s0 en SaaS 
9 T6see wee vee 319 
1V. 3 eee cee eee 320 


Date Due 


YA 4 1940 
“JUN 2 2 46 
8 
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"ER 4 40 


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Form 335—35M—9-34—C. P. Co. 


C629 v.4 297455 


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